Survival
by Lukutakina
Summary: Stuck in an island with little memory about the previous day, Webber is deserted. Now he must survive in the peculiar place with his wits and survival instincts. But the island proves to hold ominous ambiguities unknown to the natural world. Along with linguring mysteries, he encounters other survivors condemned with the same fate.
1. The First Night

Chapter 1: The First Night

The child awoke with a blistering headache, the sun was shining in the sky and blinding his sight. Nauseated and lightheaded he tried to stand up, only to be met with failure. His limbs ached with excruciating pain and his head felt like it was splitting in two. He tried to view his surroundings by opening his eyes only to be met by the glaring sun, which made him squint with pain. A few moments passed before his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight before hearing a rather dapper voice.

"Say pal, you don't look so good," the voice stated with a hint of sarcasm. "You better find yourself something to eat, before night comes."

The voice startled the little child. He hurriedly expended what energy he had in order to stand on his two feet. He regretted his actions greatly when he saw no trace of anyone, and met with the aching pain found in his muscles. The pain lingered through his body for what seemed like a few minutes. What really bothered the child was his head, he had a spitting migraine that wouldn't let up. After a few moments, he grasped his face with the palms of his hands.

"What am I feeling?" He stretched his hands across his face to further determine this strange sensation. It felt like fuzz, a little soft but totally foreign. That wasn't the strangest part though, there were these strange limbs coming out of his head. They had a strange sensation about them and felt like they were a part of his own body. The small child seemed to think of them as spider legs, but that seemed impossible. This thought seemed to go through his head since he has come to know spiders quite commonly. After all, the boy was known to have a deep interest in arachnids and had kept one as a personal pet.

"Wait." Then it suddenly hit him, "where am I anyway?" He surveyed the surrounding area which dwelled of a forest consisting of a small amount of trees and berry bushes, and then there was the ocean water that seemed to stretch out for miles. As he surveyed around by tilting his head, he caught a glimpse of his hand which caused him to flinch.

"What!" He stammered back as he witnessed his hand to be covered in dark, black fuzz and turned his attention to his entire body. "What on earth happened to me?" His entire body seemed to be engulfed in this new layer of black, fuzzy skin. The dark skin seemed to resemble that of a large spider. Strangely enough, it seemed he had pockets in the area where his pants should be. He reached into this pocket with his hand to take out a strange ball of white thread.

"What is this thing?" Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the ball had more of an oval shape and was the size of a fist.

" **Egg Nest."**

"Whoa, who said that?" But he received no reply. In fact, it seemed that the voice came from inside his head. The voice itself sounded strangely weird, but he couldn't help but feel as though it was familiar. Whatever it was, he felt connected to it somehow.

So he put this "egg" or "nest" back into his pocket and took a few steps towards the ocean to get a good look of his face. He struggled a little bit with his first steps as he was still sore in his legs upon waking up. There was still a considerable amount of pain in his muscles that caused him stagger as he tried to walk. After a few attempts, he was finally able to wobble his body over to the water. When he finally reached the water's edge, he was taken aback by his appearance.

"Ahhhhh!" He fumbled backwards and fell on his butt. He was startled to say the least, because there was a giant spider where his face was supposed to be.

"This can't be right." He looked at his reflection once more for clarity. This time though, he didn't jump back in fear. He saw that he had eight eyes and four legs growing at the sides of his cheek. Two large eyes were they should normally be, and six smaller eyes to the sides of them. His head also seemed to be engulfed in this new layer of skin. The legs growing to the side of his cheeks seemed to be spider legs the size of his arm. It looked like a giant spider had gone and swallowed his entire head.

"Is some kind of weird dream? I mean it has to be, right. How else could all this be possible?" The strangest element about this supposed dream is that it felt way too surreal to be anything less than reality. All of his senses seemed heightened to the extreme. Especially the pain he felt, right when he woke up.

"Okay Webber, think. What was the last thing you did?" Webber was having an extremely hard time trying to concentrate on the matter. In fact, after a few moments in deep thought, his headache was beginning to come back. Then suddenly, he remembered a rather tall, slender figure. He remembered some rambling he told him; promising a place with lots of friends and refuge from his everyday life. The sound of his voice was all too clear. It had a sort of charismatic tone that seemed all too friendly.

"Wait a minute. What was it that the voice said?" Webber seemed to recall a point in which the man warned him about food, quite recent actually.

As if on cue, a sharp sting of pain entered his gut. This type of pain was beyond anything Webber could even dream of; the pain halted any thoughts held in Webber's mind.

"Jeez, I need food." He stated bluntly. The thought of hunger never really posed any threat to Webber before. Sure, every once in a while he would be a little unfilled and complained about it. But this felt a whole lot different. Every sense in his body was telling Webber to seek any source of food to fill his empty stomach.

Out of sheer instincts, he reached into his other pocket to take out a rather disturbing looking meat that seemed to have hair growing on it.

"This looks awful." Despite Webber's verbal comment, the piece of blue meat seemed incredibly appetizing. His mouth began to water to the aroma that the meat began to emit. He couldn't think such a smell could cause him to crave the meat and consume it whole.

"But I can't eat this." Webber was forced on his knees when his pain increased dramatically. He was experiencing agonizing, sharp stabs throughout his gut as he clutched his belly with one arm. The other was still holding onto the perplexing, blue meat. His thoughts seemed to fade as his ravenous sense of hunger seemed to take over. He desperately tried to regain some of his common sense but to no avail. The piecing, strain of his insides were being torn apart every moment he didn't consume anything. His gaze fixed upon the deteriorating piece of meat which he raised closer to his face. The voice inside him was desperately influencing his emotions as Webber fought to control his appetite. Webber was at war with his thoughts as if he were fighting for dominance over his body. He appeared to have less control over his actions as the intense throbbing over his stomach expanded. It was then that the pain was too unbearable for the young boy. He no longer cared for anything else, the only concern he had was of the raw flesh that he found in his pocket.

" **Meat."**

Like a ravish animal, Webber tore into the meat with his sharp, fangs. Never in his life has he tasted anything so delicious before. The taste just danced between his taste buds and delivered a kind of ecstasy. In less than two minutes, the rotten meat was gone. Webber found himself savoring the flavor by licking his hands clean. He let his meal set in for a few minutes before he seemed to calm down. Finally, his senses came back. Webber looked at his hands once more before pondering over his sense of regret bestowed before him.

"I guess, I was just really hungry." He thought trying to reassure himself.

Which reminded him of the earlier comment the man stated when he first woke up.

'You better find yourself something to eat before night comes.' The thought lingered in his head for a few moments.

"Alright, from now on I will always have food so that I never have to eat eerie meat again." He stated with a sense of resolve. Of course, that was easier said than done since he didn't even know exactly where he was. He was now sure that the man in the suit had brought him here for reasons unknown to him. Plus, he still didn't know why he looked like some sort of mutant, spider kid. Even so, his new appearance really didn't appall him all too much. He had always thought that spiders were beyond cool! They did have eight eyes after all! Unfortunately, now he doesn't have his precious pet spider anymore. Through all the difficulties in his life, Webber always enjoyed the company of his irreplaceable spider friend. This saddened Webber tremendously.

"No, get yourself together Webber. You're lost in some forest without any food or shelter. In order to survive, I have to stay focused. I should probably set up camp somewhere until I'm rescued."

With his new resolve set in motion, Webber headed in the direction of the woods and started by picking berries found in the bushes for food. He didn't want to resort to his oddly, strange, animalistic behavior like what happened before. He also picked up rocks so that he could make a fire pit which he had learned from precious experience back at summer camp. Though, it took him a while to pick up a good amount of medium sized rocks in the forest. Once he was done arranging the rocks in a sort of circle, he gathered some grass growing in the forest along with some sticks from some tiny trees. There were very few patches of grass growing but the sticks that he gathered made up for it.

The problem now was how he was even going to start a fire. He had no lighter or matches to get it going. Plus he didn't even have enough grass to make himself a proper bed like he had wanted.

"No problem Webber, I'm sure if I search far enough I could find some more supplies. As long as I don't get lost or lose track of how to get back, I should be fine." The thought about getting lost in the wilderness at night definitely terrified the little spider boy. He had always been afraid of the dark; anything can be lurking behind it. Creatures lie through the empty void with its unknown features. Poking its red beat eyes that subtly glistened through the charcoal sky, its claws just hugging the edge of what little light is available in the pitch black area.

"Webber, this is no time to creep yourself out. I need supplies, and I should probably get them before it really starts to turn dark."

Webber discontinued his paranoia so that he may explore deeper into the woods. To his delight, Webber found a brick path with two directions to travel to.

"Alright, this should make it easier not to get lost. All I have to do is follow one of these paths; once it looks like night is coming I'll just follow it back."

Webber than preceded through the brick path on the left with quickened speed, the smooth trail made it easier to tread along without further pressure on his feet. Because of this, Webber was able to move a lot faster than traveling through the unleveled, forest ground.

The surrounding area seemed to contain less trees and fertile soil after thirty minutes or so. Webber picked up any resource he deemed reliable, which wasn't a lot since there wasn't much grass and he could barely carry enough with just his pockets and hands. He did however manage to pick up a few berries but most importantly, some flint.

"Sweet! Back at summer camp, I learned that hitting two of these rocks together could create sparks. I'm sure that I can make a fire using this." Webber felt tremendously relieved when he no longer would have to be alone at night, in the horrible darkness. With this new set of determination, he headed along the trail with higher hopes of important resources.

His high hopes, however, turned into fear when he spotted what seemed to be a human skeleton.

"Oh man." Webber sighed with great grief. Just along the trail was what appeared to be a skeleton stretched out on the ground, with a backpack on its bony shoulders. Needless to say, Webber was aroused with great sorrow.

"So other people have been to this island…but he didn't make it." Webber felt tears already sliding down his cheeks followed by his conflicting emotions.

"What if I end up here dead too? What if no one ends up finding me and I starve to death?" Thoughts of negativity swirled around the tiny mind of our young, spider child. The unbearable thought of loneliness and isolation purged deep within his head.

"No! I can't think like that! I just need to focus on survival and eventually…someone will come find me. Someone must know that I'm…gone. I just need to focus." He stated softly. With the thought of survival, Webber's eyes fixated on the backpack attached to the fateful fallen. He seemed to ponder taking the backpack for himself; it'll certainly be handy when carrying all the grass he'll need.

Wiping his tears away he says, "I can't do that, it's…wrong. This used to be someone; he was alive just like me." Even so, this person perished long ago and Webber knew at least that much. If he was to survive, he would have to do some things he might not agree with; which included taking the goods of the dead.

Reaching down, Webber aimed for the backpack. He pulled back when he came into close contact with the body. After a few moments of hesitating, he finally gripped the satchel and gave a small tug. It didn't budge right away, so Webber applied some more force until it finally came apart.

"I'm really sorry, honest."

After a few moments, Webber reached into the bag to find an axe and a shovel. At least that's what it was supposed to be, but to him it looked like a piece of flint tied to a long narrow stick. The flint have been carved and sharpened so that they may function as tools. Even so, Webber felt he could make better ones than these since they seemed in pretty bad condition.

"Although, I don't think I would have even thought to make these sorts of things; at least now I know I can get creative with flint. Maybe I can even make a pickax to mine those big boulders that are spread out through the forest." Webber than stuffed the tools in his bag when an idea came to his head after skimming his eyes across the shovel.

After an hour of nonstop digging, Webber figured the hole would finally be big enough. He then turned his attention to the bony structure. After a long sigh, Webber grabbed hold of its shoulders and carefully laid out the skeleton down in the hole. It took a lot of effort to create a hole as big as a person, but Webber felt satisfied. He then covered the hole with dirt and stuck a nearby rock at the end of the dirt. He engraved a little saying onto the tombstone which he had placed and then sprang to his feet.

"I know it's not much, but I sure would like it if someone buried me…if I ever died." After a few moments, he replied, "Thanks for the bag, I really appreciate it."

With that said, Webber began to tread through the path once again in search for more resources along with his new bag strapped behind him.

At first, Webber felt a little optimistic on his journey onward. But after an hour or so of treading and finding very little grass, he was having some doubts. He thought of returning back to his camp to set up a fire so that he could get all cozy before nightfall. That is until the terrain turned to that of a savannah, and along with it was grass as far as anyone would even hope for. Seriously, he should not be this happy for grass.

"Alright! Now all I have to do is stuff as much of it as I can into my bag and head on back." He ran to the nearest patch and started his work. As Webber continued his harvest, a foul stench slapped him across his face.

"Geez, what's that awful smell!" His eyes navigated itself to the source.

"Is that poop?" Just like he thought, there was a big lump of manure just a couple yards away from him.

"Wait," he pondered, "if there's poop, then that means there must be some sort of animal around here." Webber thought about searching for this animal. On one side, he could find a potential means of meat. On the other, the animal could be heavily dangerous.

After a few moments he replied, "I'll just take a look at it from a distance and not approach it. I'm in a savannah; it isn't that hard to spot something a good distance away, right. Plus, I can still gather up some grass while I search for it." Webber seemed to like his reasoning and followed as proceeded. While his search was on, he noticed a lot of rabbits lying around the savannah. He tried to catch one only to be met with failures, and a lot of pratfalls. He soon gave up on the little fuzballs and diverted his attention to the sound of a wild beast.

Webber tilted his head in the direction of the sound to see a large hairy beast in the distance. He stood there amazed of the sheer size of the exotic creature. It looked like the size of a cow, maybe even a bit bigger and seemed to weigh a ton.

"Holy cow! There's no way I could hunt that. I wouldn't even know how to fight it, and there's probably more just like that one. If I tick one of them off, they all might just come after me." Webber immediately abandoned his hopes of hunting the beefalo, the name he came up with, in order to gather sufficient meat. Even by some miracle that he managed to lure one out and kill it, there's no way he could lift the carcass back to his camping spot. Therefore, Webber gathered an abundant amount of grass before deciding to head on back.

Suddenly a familiar sting of pain managed to pique his gut. He was hungry again. Not as much as the previous time where he had given into his bashful behavior, but enough so that he would stop for some berries. He took off his bag and reached in for the berries that he managed to pick along the way.

"I think it would be better to cook these but that's too long a wait, besides I need the strength and energy to be able to go back." With this in mind, Webber tossed the berries into his mouth and chewed thoroughly. It wasn't the best meal in the world but when you're hungry, anything tastes good.

"It might be good to find a way to catch those rabbits around here. Maybe I can make some traps and lure them into it." He thought about it a little more. "Well, I'll think about it tomorrow when I get a good night's rest." After his little meal, Webber was displeased to find so little berries left in his bag. Sure he had more at the camp, but he thought these would last him at least a couple of days.

"How long does it take for berries to grow from bushes again?" From his worldly experience, Webber concluded that it was too long. He then packed the rest of his berries into his bag and was set to travel back to his camp.

Strangely enough, the sky then turned to dusk, night was soon approaching. This set Webber on his nerves, as he feared he would not make it back before the sky plunges into total darkness. But that wasn't the only thing bothering him at that time, the evening seemed different than the usual night that he was accustomed to. It held a negative atmosphere as almost as if it were alive. Like someone was watching him in the shadows.

"I better get going before it gets any darker."

He hurried along the trail with twitched motions, the slightest sound would cause him to flinch or stop in his place. He was extremely nervous. Here he was stuck on an island, with no one but himself, and it was about to get dark. It was everything he feared and more, he just absolutely needed to get back as quick as possible. It's just that this was even more difficult since he was starting to feel fatigued for all the traveling throughout the day. The only thing that really kept his feet moving was the thought of being stuck in the dark with no light whatsoever.

In a little less than two hours, he finally made it back! And he couldn't be more relieved.

"Ok, calm down Webber. All you need to do is make your bed and get the fire started." Needless to say, he started with the fire. Webber piled on small kindling grass before attempting to set it ablaze with his two pieces of flint. After a couple of tries, he was able to start a small fire going. He then gently piled on some small twigs on top on it to further fuel his light source.

"I wonder if I have enough sticks for this fire, I probably should have cut down a tree for firewood. After all, I do have an ax now." He seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Nah, I'm sure I'll be fine. Either way, I just need this fire until I could sleep." Webber than prepared his bed as best as he could. It didn't look like the most comfortable bed to sleep in but it sure beat the hell out of the floor.

"I'll probably want to build a tent soon. I'll probably need to find some sort of strong fabric to hold it together though." He thought to himself. "Well, more plans for the future." After a few moments, he threw some more twigs into the fire and relaxed a little bit.

Then, darkness came.

The surrounding area became engulfed by the crimson, dark shade. Everything around him seemed to slowly fade until the only thing visible was the lighted area given off by his small fire.

" **Stay in LIGHT!"** the voice inside him screamed.

Webber began to panic upon hearing this.

"But why, what's wrong?"

He received no reply, but for some reason he believed that voice. It was the very same voice that he felt connected to and spoke to him earlier throughout the day.

Webber's heart nearly stopped when he saw his small fire slowly fading. He hurriedly gathered the rest of the twigs and grass that he collected, which wasn't much since he didn't bother on gathering a whole lot. Plus most of the grass that he stuffed into his bag was used to build his bed. Nevertheless, he threw the remaining twigs and grass onto the dying fire. The fire greedily took in the food fed thrown into it, but craved more.

It was really close to going out and if he didn't do something soon, darkness would swallow him whole. He reached for his bag and grabbed hold of his ax; he went to the nearest tree available to him and began chopping. After ten minutes of hard, blistering whacks across the tree trunk. The tree graciously fell down, it wasn't the biggest tree in the forest but he didn't have time for that. He quickly chopped up the tree into smaller pieces and lunged across to his fire.

The fire was on the brink of going out by the time he was there with small logs, the light emitting from it only reached a radius of two yards. Webber was incredibly tense as he caved in to despair and fear. His heart was beating faster than it ever did in his lifetime. His palms were sweaty and small blisters could be seen starting to form all over his hands. His breathing was exponentially high as he struggled to keep calm and focus on the task at hand.

He gently placed one log onto the dying fire hoping that it wouldn't go out and accept his offering. As the fire dimmed slowly he began to hear the hissing of some form of monster. It crept behind him, only coming closer with every inch that the darkness had swallowed. It released a negative pressure that drowned Webber into great despair. He could hear it slowly approach him from behind while his little fire seemed to fade. The sheer, utter sensation of a figure towering over his small frail, little body was enough to make him cringe in desperation. The dark, entity was ready to pounce in a moment's notice. Webber could now feel the ominous sensation of said creature prickling along his back.

*Crackle

The fire finally ate away at the log of wood laid around it as light began to slowly reappear. At first, the creature did nothing. Webber was stuck in a horrid trace as he felt the very aura of a beast right behind him.

He never dared turn around to face the monstrosity. Luckily for him, the fire grew and bestowed upon him light. The creature slowly backed away as the light threatened its very existence. It was still close enough to hear its exasperated breaths that tormented those near it. Upon time, the fire increased and the creature drew back farther. Webber felt it necessary to add more fuel to his savior in order to keep the beast at bay.

However, he was tremendously frightened to do so much as move a muscle. But to ensure his survival, he knew he had to act. Therefore, Webber slowly reached for another log with imbalanced, rigid motions. After grasping a hold of one end of the log, he dragged it across the ground closer to himself. With his other hand, he clasped it with both his hands and held the log over his fire.

*Thwamp.

Webber accidentally dropped the log on top of his fire which caused it to falter. The fire began to dim in size and brightness. With a few light footsteps heard behind him, Webber huddled to his knees as to avoid the upcoming onslaught. Except it never came. His fire stood lit. After a few moments, it became a steady, sized fire. This caused the creature to back away and return into its shadows.

Webber was dumbstruck. He did not move or even tilt his head. He sat next to his fire, where he presumed he was safe. After all that has happened throughout the day, Webber was now sure of one thing.

He is not alone.

 **Author's Note:**

 **To start off, this is my first fan fiction and I hoped you all liked it. Feel free to leave a review and provide some feedback, I would really like to improve. I'm basing this off of Don't Starve Reign of Giants so there is a lot more to come. I might add other characters, not entirely sure yet. I want to focus this story mainly on Webber. I also want to provides some realism to the story along with the game structure that defies the laws of physics. I hope to have each chapter around five thousand words or so. I'm determined to make this a really long story and hope to finish as soon as I can. I think that's all I want to say, enjoy the rest of your day!**


	2. Friends and Foes

It has come to my attention that I didn't provide a disclaimer so:

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Other than that, enjoy this chapter! I really didn't think I would post so soon but whatev.

Chapter 2: Friends and Foes

Webber awoke with a tiresome grown. His grass bed had been ruined due to his constant tossing and turning. Last night had been a disaster. Of course, he didn't sleep right away. After several hours of complacent staring, Webber had grown tiresome and demanded to rest onto his makeshift bed. For fear of the fire being extinguished, he had placed the rest of the chopped firewood onto the fire. He realized that this was a mistake, since the fire grew exponentially in size which made it difficult to sleep. Even now that the sun has made its way across the horizon, the fire is still burning at a mediocre volume. Even so, Webber would rather be safe than sorry.

Webber than placed his hands and knees on the ground in an attempt to stand himself up. Due to the lack of sleep, he was awfully drowsy. He rose to his two feet when he heard a familiar growl coming from his underbelly.

"I'd better eat." Webber states with little expression. He solemnly walked over to his bag where he left all his berries he had picked from the previous day. He figured the best way to start out the day is with a full stomach, especially since breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

"This time, at least I'll be able to cook them." At this point, Webber realized he had no pan or kettle to set the berries over the fire. He needed some form of object to pile on the berries in order to cook them. However, it also needed to be resistant to fire so that it couldn't go up in flames. After a few slow moments of thinking, he gained an idea.

"If I put some fresh big leaves on top of my shovel and use that, maybe it'll cook them." He said to himself. "The leaves should be a nice clean way to lay all the berries while the shovel takes all the heat." He figured he should take his idea to the test and started collecting fresh leaves from the trees. He then laid a small amount of berries onto the shovel that was now covered and looked like a makeshift saucepan. Carefully, he moved the shovel over the lingering fire which danced around his tool. After a few minutes, the berries finally reacted to the heat below it and began to meld together. To Webber, it looked a lot like jam. He pulled the shovel out of the fire and laid it upon the ground so that it may cool off.

The rich, sweet smell of the melted berries caught Webber off guard. He let the intoxications of his meal soothe his mind as pleasant comfortless filled his body. After a little while, he decided to try the jam that held a lukewarm feeling against his palm. He raised his hand close to his mouth and down poured the jam. It was sweet like candy. He savored the taste between his lips as the nectarous liquid spun spirals around his taste buds. Webber finally seemed to lighten up since the atrocious event experienced the preceding day. He then proceeded to take more berries and pile it onto his new cooking utensil. After a few minutes, the berries were smelted into a liquid substance similar to the form before. Webber didn't wait for long since he reached out for the jam ignoring its highly heated state.

"Ouch!" Webber yelled. He flinched away and fumbled the shovel around, but it still stayed in his grasp. "I have to be more careful." He said as he laid across the ground placing his hand inside his mouth in order to cool it down. After a few moments, the jam seemed less scalding and he reached out for it with his other hand. Once he determined that the food was at a lukewarm temperature, he scooped handfuls inside his mouth. This reestablished the sweet, tang taste of sweetened candy. He filled his belly with the heavy amount of jelly until it was fully satisfied.

Webber then took hold of his shovel and tossed the makeshift leaves onto the remaining fire. He worked his way to his bag that held his remaining commodities which consisted of the ax and a handful of berries that could last him maybe another day or two. His gaze fixed upon the ax.

"If I'm going to survive at night, I need firewood." He pondered to himself. "In that case, I should have a good amount of it chopped and stacked close to my fire pit for precaution. That'll keep that scary beast away." His mind shuttered at the mere mention of the horrid creature from last night.

Therefore, Webber started away at the nearest tree with upholding determination. He was a lot more relaxed ergo he could take his time chopping the trees. After a solid hour of backbreaking labor, he had chopped three full sized trees that left him with plenty of wooden logs.

*Thwack

His ax had split in two. The sharp edge comprised of flint had been dulled.

"I guess now is as good a time to stop." He stated with heavy breathing. He then began to pile up all of his earnings a few yards away from the fireplace. Not too close so that they catch on fire, but just enough so that he can reach it in a moment's notice. Webber felt tremendously accomplished, but there was a slight feeling of emptiness. In the feat of his survival and efforts, the only thing Webber recognized to be a form of companionship was the ghastly beast.

In times of great solitude, Webber usually relied on his one true friend. His spider. Unfortunately, his companion was no longer with him in this world.

 **"Want friends?"** A similar voice seemed to recall.

"Is that you again, who are you?" Webber questioned. The boy felt some form of conscious flowing within his mind as if the voice was coming inside his head.

 **"You and me friends."** The voice flatly responded shortly afterwards.

"I don't understand, just how are you talking to me anyway?"

 **"If want more friends, plant egg nest."** The voice stated ignoring the child's question.

"Egg nest?" Webber seemed to recall. "You mean that ball of thread in my pocket." This time he received no reply from the voice. In fact, he felt the presence in his mind slowly drift away. Until finally, Webber could tell that it was no longer with him at the moment. There was still some form of light residue given off from its earlier conversation. Although, it seemed as if it were lying dormant inside Webber; only speaking a few instances to the little spider child.

Webber then proceeded to take out the white ball out of his pocket to inspect it once more. Upon closer inspection, Webber realized that the ball looked more and more like a giant spider egg.

"Of course!" He squealed. "Why didn't I notice it before? This clearly represents the egg sack of a spider, a pretty big spider if you ask me. Then again, I never heard of planting one of these before. Must be some new type of species; one only found on this island." He then grew quite excited, since he figured he would be able to make new friends with the arachnids that hatched from the egg.

Webber then searched for a location to place the egg so that it may indeed hatch. Naturally, he placed the egg on the ground around his camping area. It was about five yards away from the fire pit since he didn't want the fire to singe the egg in any way. The moment the egg was placed on the ground, he witnessed the object latch itself on the ground with silk webbing.

"Woah, that's cool! I've never seen that done before." He cheered excitedly.

The egg then stood itself upright and then emitted a small sense of heat.

"I guess the egg is hatching now. Now, all I have to do is wait. Soon, there will be dozens of new friends that can provide me comfort while stuck on this island." Webber fantasized about the type of spider it would be. Whether it be poisonous or venomous, small or large, he felt ecstatic about the wonders this new creature would provide.

"Okay Webber, now that the egg is hatching. I should probably work on the campsite a bit. I'm going to need some food for sure, can't live off berries forever. I should also focus on resources and maybe I could even make some pretty cool tools. Yea, tools! I should start with that." Webber happily made his way to his bag.

In there were some berries and a shovel.

"If I use the flint I have and carve a nice handle out of one of my logs, I could make a pretty handy pickax." He pondered. Even when Webber felt this was an efficient approach to gather more supplies. He only had two pieces of flint, which he uses to create his fire. Without the needs for a proper lighter, he would be utterly defenseless when nighttime came. On the other hand, he could use his pickax to chip out all the boulders into smaller usable bits. Some of these boulders might even contain more flint in order to create new tools or used to create sparks.

"Okay Webber." He stated after going over his ideas. "I'll have to use the flint I have to make a pickax. Next, I can mine the surrounding boulders until I find a sufficient amount of flint. After all, it's still pretty early. I should find at least one piece of flint by the time it gets dark." With this in mind, he set off to work.

In less than an hour, he perfected his pickax and began to chip away at the big boulders. He started with the nearest one and worked his way around his surrounding area. Cracking the boulders with his pickax exhausted a huge amount of energy from Webber and he grew tired. The results of his hard effect certainly paid off though.

"Sweet!" he exclaimed. "It's only been a good hour and I already mined five big rocks. Just look at all these flint stones I have." His gaze met with a pile of boulders, consisting of: flint, rocks, and some quarts of a yellow due. "Not sure what I could do with those rocks yet, but the flint will definitely come in handy." His attention fell on the foreign yellow quarts. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with that, but you never know."

Webber sat down on a propped rock to rest from his intense labor. "I really worked up a sweat." He announced. "I can't remember the last time I worked so hard, but now I'm pumped." Through his manual labor, Webber accomplished great strength and endurance that normally exceeded his usual physical pique. He felt vibrant with energy.

"I wonder if it's because of how I look." He replied. "Maybe whatever happened to me affected more than my appearance. I mean, not that I'm complaining. Spiders are awesome." Webber recalled the distinct abilities and strengths that spiders have demonstrated in his experience. "Well if I'm becoming more like a spider, it could only be a good thing. I probably have super powers and could use my power to save lives. I could call myself, SpiderKid!"

A giggle escaped Webber's mouth before exploding in hysterical laughter. His cheery, humane frame of mind was a nice change to his previous disposition. After a few moments, his laughter died down.

"Oh, that reminds me. I should check on the spider egg!" He made his way to the nest.

"Whoa!" He said in astonishment. Standing just a few feet away from him was the spider egg, which had increased in size. "It's got to be three times its original size. It looks like the size of a basketball." Webber felt more drawn to it as he stepped closer to the egg.

"I wonder how big these spiders are going to be." He pondered. "Spider eggs aren't usually the size of fists, let alone the size of a basketball. They tend to be the size of a coin and harbor hundreds of tiny little babies inside." Of course, it was different for each species. Webber couldn't even fathom how these spiders worked.

"Not only that, but it's only been a few hours since I planted it. I wonder how big it'll grow." He thought. "Either way, I can't wait!" He exclaimed excitedly. "As long as they're babies, I have full confidence that I could befriend them easily. It might even be easier since I look more like them now."

Webber sat beside the egg with expressed joy. He talked to the arachnid embryo and conversed with it as if it were listening. Even if it was not hatched yet, it provided excellent companionship to the lover of spiders.

"Wait a sec, I'm sure you guys will be hungry when you hatch." He suddenly announced. "I'm sure you guys could rely on small insects and bugs when you guys are babies. But soon enough, you're going to need something fulfilling. Especially since you guys are going to grow to be the biggest spiders of all mankind. Maybe I should go and gather some food or even meat." Webber recalled the time he saw the beefalo.

"No way, I could never hunt that." He quickly declared. "But I still have to find some food, mainly some meat." He thought about this for several minutes. "Wait, I'm stuck on this huge island. There's bound to be some other animals that I could hunt. I mean, it is pretty strange around here. I've found a huge cow, there's got to be something else."

With that concluded, Webber decided to head out and hunt. He crafted a spear out of a log and piece of flint that he sharpened. He reached for his backpack and organized his items accordingly. He piled the berries he had left close to his fire pit, where his fire had finally gone out. Plus, he stashed his shovel and pickax into his bag in case he needed them.

"Nice, I'm all set!" With eager confidence, Webber headed out.

He headed in the direction of the brick path he stumbled upon the other day. He gripped his spear ready in both hands as he traveled through the woods since he was still unsure of his surroundings. He was just as much as anyone else's prey as they were to him. After a few minutes, he reached the path that divided in two.

"Yesterday I took the one on the left, so this time I'll take the one on the right." He reasoned.

Webber traveled down the path before him with an anxious conscience. The fact that he was looking for prey seemed to set him on edge. He never really killed anything before. All the meat he has ever tried was all prepared for him by his parents. The thought of ending another life seemed appalling to the little child. Even so, Webber concluded that if he was to survive in this wilderness. He must act.

After just a few minutes down the path, Webber noticed the fresh water pond nearby.

"Water!" he cheered as he ran to it.

Once he reached the pond, he noticed how incredible deep it was. It seemed to be several feet deep; he couldn't even take a glimpse at the bottom.

"Well, deep or not it still has water that I could drink." Webber reached down and started to take large gulps of the refreshing liquid. It soothed well against his throat. "Hold on," he said as he finished drinking, "I didn't drink a drop of water yesterday, shouldn't I be way more dehydrated than I already am." Webber thought about the subject a bit more before responding, "Could it have something to do with my body?" He had somehow resembled an overgrown spider.

"I mean, some spiders only need a little bit of fluids for long periods of time while others don't need to drink water at all." He wondered if maybe this was why he didn't need to drink as much. "Well, either way I still have to focus on my hunt." And with that, he continued his journey.

Soon the surrounding area around him began to change. The surrounding trees were of a different species and many fallen leaves covered the ground. The hues of the leaves were a calming, autumn orange. The trees hoarded an abundant amount of trees that appeared to gradually fall onto the ground. Though, what caught Webber's eyes were the giant nuts growing on their branches.

"Those nuts look like they would be good to eat. I should probably take a few for later." Webber then climbed up one of the trees to pick the oversized nuts. He had to climb a couple trees since there were only one or two nuts in a single tree.

After his little harvest, he stashed them away in his bag and continued on his hunt. While walking in the new terrain, he noticed more berry bushes and tiny saplings to gather sticks. He considered the thought of collecting such resources, but rejected the idea as soon as it was established.

"I have to focus on hunting for meat, and I need room for it in my bag. Besides, I could always come back and pick it later." He reasoned. "It doesn't look like anyone else is gonna take them."

Webber was halted from his ramblings as he approached a fork in his path. One traveled to the left while the other was to the right.

"Hmmm, I don't really see the harm of taking whichever side." He flatly stated. "I should stick with the right so it's easier to remember."

Just then, Webber heard ruffling noises coming from behind. He quickly rotated to the direction of the noise. His breaths became more silent and his heart sped up a little. He poised his weapon close to chest and held a strong grip with both his hands. His face seemed more serious, more determined.

In the distance, Webber spotted a large bird next to a berry bush. It was gluttonously feasting on the berries with a form of assailment. It quickly gobbled up the berries in record time then faced Webber.

"A turkey," he whispered not wanting to scare it away.

It looked at him with an uncaring glare, almost as if it didn't notice him. It had a stupefied expression on its face as it slowly started to walk in an indistinct direction. Webber stood in his position assessing his situation.

'Perfect.' He thought. 'Turkeys are flightless birds that contain a good amount of meat. Plus, they're not the brightest of birds. If I slowly approach it, maybe I can take a jab at it with my spear.'

Thus, Webber deliberately made his way to the ignorant, avian animal. He paced enough to keep up with the bird's normal pace as well as cover less distance between them. The turkey didn't even do much as bat an eye as his predator had been planning its demise. It was until Webber was within stabbing distance that the feeble bird turned tail and sped up.

Webber stopped in his place, not sure if the turkey had caught on to his intention. However, the turkey stopped a few yards away from the boy assuming that it was now safe. Webber thought for a few moments, he noticed from the panicked dash from the bird that he was slower than it. He could try to throw his spear, it certainly would be better than trying to outrun the flightless creature.

With a deep sturdy breath, Webber pulled his spear back towards his shoulders with both arms. One hand was holding on firmly to the weapon; the other gently under the front part of the spear for balance. He bent his knees down slightly to ensure a stable stance upon the ground. With calm fluid motions, he waited for his prey to carelessly stop fidgeting to secure a precise shot. The turkey, not noticing his predator's actions, fixed his gaze over the horizon with a pacified expression. Webber, seeing his chance, applied pressure to his right arm thrusting his spear with all of his might.

It appeared to be too much since the spear did not directly meet its mark. It grazed the side of the bird and struck a nearby tree. The turkey, finally realizing its immediate danger, sprinted towards the woods to flee its predator.

Webber tried to reclaim his spear in a desperate attempt to finish off the wounded bird. After pulling the spear out of the tree bark with invigorating strength, he took off in the direction of his damaged prey. However, after a few minutes of constant running he no longer sighted the turkey. His potential meal had gotten away.

"Gosh darn it!" he exclaimed. "I was so close." Webber was breathing hard and tired from his hectic chase. He bestowed upon him a few minutes of recovery before noticing the surrounding area.

"Shoot, where the heck am I?" He questioned.

The terrain had returned to its pine tree infested forest. He looked around when he noticed something peculiar. It was a bolder, except it was radiating a yellow glow between several cracks. After walking several steps towards it by sudden curiosity, he noticed a blue document to the side of the structure. It was rolled up and buried by slight scrabbles of debris and twigs. He reached for the document and scuffed off some of the dirt that managed to stain the outside layer. When rolled open, he was exposed to design schematics of some sort of machine.

'Science Machine' was labeled at the top part of the document. The form itself went into great detail into the steps to building the machine. It looked like even Webber could build it if he really tried to.

'Important- GOLD NEEDED'

'Machine tailored to advance the mind with new scientific inquires'

As Webber read on the blueprint, his attention then switched to that of the bolder. It's strange and abnormal shape led Webber to believe that it was harvesting something unique inside.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to look." Webber reached for his pickax from his bag and then stashed the newfound blueprint inside. He chipped away at the boulder until he reached the core. At the very center was a gold nugget a little bit bigger than his fist.

Webber stood memorized by the shiny object. It radiated a supply of energy that could be sensed upon touch.

"I'm definitely keeping this," he concluded. Hence, Webber packed the mineral into his backpack that added a considerable amount of weight. Even so, he was still able to handle the applied pressure with little to no ease considering his bag was not full.

"Geez, I still have to find my way back." He sighed with remembrance. "Not only that, but I still haven't hunted any meat." His face expressed a sigh of annoyance with the regard of the turkey.

"Alright, I have to keep trying. But first, I have to find my way back to the path I was traveling. I'm sure I came here from this direction." Therefore, Webber trotted along through the forest.

Along the way, he picked berries from nearby bushes and consumed them to ward off his hunger. After a short while, he returned to his initial location. The terrain was once again infested with trees that brought about hundreds of falling leaves.

He decided in past time to follow right, which is what he did. The added weight to his backpack tended to tire him out more in the long run, but Webber was still prepared for incoming prey.

All of a sudden, a figure lunged at the little boy from the side. It swiped furiously at the spider figured individual. Through reactions that were foreign to the boy, he dashed quickly to the side only receiving a slight scratch from his attacker. Upon close inspection, Webber sighted a raccoon that was hissing at him with its teeth. It appeared that it was on one of the branches of a tree before it decided to attack him. It certainly looked like a raccoon since its fur was grey and striped with black around its tail and eyes. Even if this was true, its characteristics resembled that of a cat in the eyes of Webber.

"I never really liked cats. My grandpa had one, but your way more mean." He spoke to it as if it listened.

The catcoon lunged at him once more with claws first and intention of murder. At that instance, Webber's body moved anew with the sort of reaction kindled of his instincts. He did not have time to ponder to move out of the way, it seemed like his body just moved on its own a little. This time when the deranged animal dove his way to the boy, he quickly sidestepped and thrust his weapon against the catcoon.

The spear impaled right through the creature as its movement was halted. At first, it tried to escape as it abrasively struggled to tear away from the spear. As soon as it realized that the rapid movements it was performing just wasted away precious blood, it stopped struggling.

It breathed slowly then let out soft wails of internal pain. Webber watched the entire spectacle unfold. He was standing next to his weapon that locked itself straight up on the ground with the suffering animal at the very bottom. The blood was clearly visible from its wound and dripped down onto the tip of the spear. Webber felt a massive feeling of regret and grief.

Never had he seen so much blood before, let alone kill a living creature. An uneasy feeling shunned his conscience and reached his gut. The feeling was a lot different from starvation, it was of great anxiety. Tears began to stream down the sides of his cheeks as the cries of the distressed catcoon grew in size.

He reached his hand out to the attacker in order to comfort the dying animal. Upon close contact, the catcoon hissed angrily at the sympathetic little boy.

"Why?" He said softly as his emotions spun. "Why did you even attack me in the first place," he whimpered. "I didn't do anything to you," he continued, "you wouldn't be like this if you would of just been friendly." Then Webber remembered that he had gone in the hopes of hunting animals such as the one before him. "I guess I'm just too nice," he said tears still streaming across his face, "I thought I could do this sort of thing, but it's hard!" His voice slightly rose. "Why couldn't you be like that stupid turkey? Why couldn't you look less in pain?" he screamed with sorrow anger, "Why is it that you hate me...wh-why do I even care if you die? His voice died down a little.

The groans and hissing of the animal stopped. It died.

Webber wiped away the tears from his face and tried to reconcile his emotions. It had been his first kill, which was incredible painful to the innocent child. How he wished it had been an animal that showed little expressions. Like a bird or that stupid turkey.

Webber then took a deep breath so that he would stop sobbing. He certainly let the animal go through a lot of suffering in its final moments. Something he hopes he will never have to witness again.

"I guess I'll have to finish them off so they don't suffer." His gaze then shifted towards the animal. His thoughts turned somewhat grey knowing what he had to do next.

Webber grabbed his spear and started by removing the carcass from his weapon. He was told from his mother that after killing an animal for food, one must draw out the blood and guts from said animal. Even though his mother had performed this many times with chickens, Webber always turned away from the procedure.

Looking again at the catcoon, he figured enough blood was drained and thoroughly cut its underbelly exposing the intestines. His face quivered at the sight of its internal organs and he grew heavily nauseated. He tried desperately not to throw up since food was of the essence.

After a few moments of composing himself, he reached his hand into the body and started pulling out the guts. In which Webber would occasionally squeal and twitch with utter dissatisfaction. After the removal of the organs, he skinned the animal and cut off its head. He then placed the fresh meat in his bag for safe storage.

As for the rest of the body, Webber did the only thing that seemed reasonable to the spider boy. He buried it.

After entombing the poor creature into the ground, he decided it was best to head back. That is until he heard a squeal somewhere close by.

"What was that?" he pondered.

Once again, his curiosity got the better of him as he picked up his bag and made his way to the sound of the voice. He spotted some strange figure and in that instance hid behind a tree. There he laid down his backpack on the ground, since the weight was beginning to leave a toll on him. Spear in hand; he carefully inspected the being.

It looked to be walking on two feet and was immensely bigger than him. It wore a skirt made out of grass and had a pink skin tone. To be more accurate, it looked like a giant pig. It had big, broad shoulders with dense muscles and hooves that looked sharp and sturdy.

"Die tree," it yelled as it punched the birchtree. It appeared to be cutting the tree down for wood or something. Its massive hooves dug deep into the harden oak with massive force as the pig repeatedly punched the trunk. Those hooves looked like they could break or cut bones with just one swipe.

'Wait a sec,' Webber thought, 'did that pig just talk.'

He had to imagine it. Animals didn't just talk, it wasn't possible. Yet here he was, staring at an oversized pig standing on two feet yelling at trees as he breaks them down.

"Tree fall," he wailed as the tree fell down.

Webber was speechless, the pig could talk. Which means its brain was big enough for cognitive thought. Perhaps he could befriend the oversized piece of bacon.

Webber emerged from his hiding spot to greet the pig. His feet stopped after just making a few steps towards the beast.

'What if it hates me,' he reflected, 'the very same thing could happen with this pig as it did with that cat-raccoon animal.' He grew uneasy as he slowly tried to back away from his current position. Though, it was too late.

The pig spotted him. It stared at Webber for a few moments as if waiting for a reply.

"Umm, hi." He stated softly. "My n-name is Webber." He said nervously.

The pig's face grew angry, "Spider Bad," it yelled as it rushed its way towards Webber.

"No, wait! I don't mean any harm." But the pig didn't budge; he made his way towards the boy with quickened haste. Webber was frightened, he didn't know whether to run or fight. The pig's size was definitely intimidating and he did just witness it cut down a tree with his bare hooves.

Dread filled Webber's thoughts as the upcoming pig raged his way to his side. Finally, the pig was within arm's length as he yelled, "Me kill!" Without any thought of movement, Webber quickly jumped to the side as the heavy arm of the bipedal pig slammed on the ground.

 **"Me help,"** a voice inside him reconciled.

The pig quickly made his way towards his enemy again and aimed to jab him in the stomach. Without a second to lose, Webber's legs moved once again out of the way of the riled pig. He quickly rolled on the ground and stood himself upright a few feet away from the attacker. Webber could sense the influence of some other presence helping him evade the attacks. The pig, frustrated that it didn't land a hit, then savagely threw multiple jabs at Webber at close range. Webber's movements rapidly increased to avoid the offensive stabs coming from his opponent. Webber focused harder on dodging its attacks and worked with his inner companion. Together, they were easily able to dodge every hit and provide some distance between them.

Webber than held up his spear determined to fight back at the wild beast. The pig, knowing this, picked up nearby rocks and began to chuck them at the spider boy. Webber was forced to take cover behind a tree as the pig threw small sized rocks in his direction. Soon the pig no longer had any projectile to lunge at his enemy; Webber decided this was his chance.

But before he could charge at the beast, the open sky turned to an orange dusk.

"Night time Bad!" the pig squealed as it ran off in the opposite direction.

Webber stood still for a few moments to access his situation. His fight was now over and no one ended up getting hurt. He didn't have to resort to ending the pig's life in a desperate attempt for survival. However, it was getting dark.

"I don't blame that pig, I hate the dark too," he responded.

 **"Safe good,"** a voice spoke.

The voice seemed happy since they were now safe. "I think I understand you now," he stated cheerily, "we're in the same predicament. We're one of the same."

 **"We friends,"** It responded.

Webber felt touched, those words forced tears to stream across his face. Since his strange arrival to the island, he has had no one to call friend. Everything here seemed out to kill him or just flatly hated him. It could be because of his appearance, the mighty spider does spread around thoughts of fear or intimation to most living things. It reminded him of the times he was constantly bullied through his days at school. Everyone seemed to tease and ridicule him because of his fascination of spiders, and here it was no different.

But once again, he feels loved by the one thing that's ever really been there for him in dark times. He wiped his tears from his face for what seemed the hundredth time for the day.

"Thank you," he managed to speak out. "We should be heading back now, don't you think."

Webber found his way to his bag and propped it on his back before heading towards his campsite. He picked up some grass and twigs he thought he would need for some kindling through the night.

When he arrived, he was shocked to what he saw. Near his fire pit where he had planted the spider egg, was this huge wad of silk thread. Even part of the ground was covered with a silky substance. Though it didn't cover the ground of the fire pit, it was pretty close. He dropped his bag close to the fire pit before approaching the huge egg that increased throughout the day.

When his feet touched the silk floor, he heard a hissing noise. From the egg, he saw a massive spider the size of a small dog poke its head out of the thread. Webber's facial expression changed to utter fascination and wonder when looking at the magnificent arachnid.

It slowly made its way to Webber and stopped just a few feet in front of him. It purred slightly and gave a quizzical look as if wondering to trust the being in front of it.

Webber thought of an idea as he reached for his satchel. He opened it up and reached for the meat that he had gathered from his expedition. Taking a piece of meat, he gently offered it to the spider. The spider hesitated, but slowly made its way to the offering. Only inches away from Webber's palm, it started to sniff the substance. 'Surely, a spider of that size could consume meat,' he thought.

Surely enough, the arachnid nibbled on the treat and chewed lightly. Soon enough, it had gobbled up what was left in Webber's hand and slowly came closer to him. It was purring.

Webber put the rest of his meat back to his bag as he laid a hand on the approaching spider. He gently stroked the fur on the top of its head as it hummed in total comfort.

Webber was thrilled at his new friend.

"I think I should give you a name," he spoke, "how about…Rooney." The spider continued to purr which made Webber think that it liked its new name.

His joyous occasion was slightly ruined when he spotted shadows creeping at him from the dark.

"Oh, right." He remembered. "We should start the fire like right now. Let me prep it up a bit Rooney." As he gestured to the spider below him that he needed to stand up.

Rooney moved to the side and watched his friend at work. Webber quickly started the fire in just a few minutes. He then proceeded to place two large logs on top of the thriving fire.

"That should do it for now, what do you think Rooney." Rooney growled in agreement. "Yeah, we think it's great too." Webber said happily.

Webber fetched his bag once more to assort his belongings. He placed his tools in one pile and placed the gold nugget right beside it. He left the blueprint inside his satchel and thought of cooking up those nuts he gathered. Taking a few, he grabbed his shovel and set out to cook them along with some berries from his pile.

After his meal, the eternal night arrived just like the other day. But unlike last time, Webber was prepared. His fire provided him a sufficient amount of light and he was not alone this time. He had Rooney and his friend that was part of his conscience.

Webber gazed upon the eternal void where the alleged beast was lurking.

"I guess the night is still pretty terrifying though," he reasoned.

Rooney let out a screech as if telling him he's with him no matter what. Webber wasn't sure that was exactly what he meant, but he sure felt more relieved. He threw a few more logs onto his fire before lying down on his semi-ruined bed. Rooney huddled in close to Webber before seeming to dose off. This was great he thought.

Webber finally had beings who didn't hate him.

 **Author's note:  
**

 **I apologize first for any grammatical errors that arise in this story. I did try and edit it myself but I'm sure there are some mistakes. Other than that, I really enjoyed writing this chapter since I was able to layout upcoming events and there was some character development. Kind of. I was really shocked that Don't Starve doesn't really have much fanfictions so I'm glad that I could add on to that. Plus, Webber is a precious cinnamon roll that just wants to be friends with everyone, except stupid turkeys. I hated those things, they always ate my berries and ran off leaving me with no food in the game. Anyway, I am hoping to improve my writing so feel free to give feedback or even ask questions. I'll greatly appreciate it! Also this chapter came out longer than I thought it would.  
**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Thank you for your encouragement. It got me really excited when I read your review. But don't fret, I plan to finish this fanfiction for sure. It could end up being pretty long. And yes, this really is my first fanfiction. I have read many great stories from other authors that seem to astound me, and now I finally wanted to unleash my imagination unto the community. As for your question about Webber, I'm sure this chapter has answered that for you. In case it didn't, Webber will now refer to himself as plural. Though, when narrating I will keep it singular to make it easy for myself. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!**


	3. Let there be light

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

As promised, a new chapter. Yay! I hope you like it.

Chapter 3: Let there be Light

Webber awoke from a loud screech. He restlessly opened his drowsy eyes and tilted his head in the direction of the noise. To his left was the spider that sprung from the nest the prior day.

"Morning Rooney," he yawned tiredly. The spider then screeched once more and started nudging him. The spider continuously nudged the little boy as if wanting something. When Webber only looked upon him with weary eyes, the spider began to gently nibble on his fingers.

"Hey, cut that out! It tickles," he expressed with tiny giggles escaping his lungs. Now a rumbling growl was heard from the underbelly of Webber.

"Oh, I get it. You're hungry!" he exclaimed while propping half his body from the ground. "I guess we all are," he giggled after hearing another rumble from his stomach. Though, Webber felt some form of fuzz across his chin. He then caressed his chin to feel silk like substance similar to the sensation from the spider nest. It occurred to Webber that he was starting to grow a beard entirely out of spider thread.

"Well, that's new." He replied bluntly.

Webber then stood himself up and made his way to his satchel, in there he pulled out the meat that he had left there as reserves. He tilted his head towards the direction of his fire and smiled upon seeing small flames burning in the pit. He then grabbed hold of his shovel to repeat his cooking process.

Rooney had stood by Webber's side, observing the spider humanoid's handiwork. His gaze lay heavily on the raw meat that was placed onto the shovel. Webber then advanced his way to the small, lingering fire to properly cook their upcoming meal.

"We haven't really had meat the whole time we were here," he spoke to Rooney. His memory jogged back to the incident of his first meal.

"That doesn't count!" he yelped when remembering the foul, peculiar meat. "It's time we've had some real food," he exclaimed.

After several minutes, their meal was finally cooked. The aroma zoomed through the air with smoked delicacy. The smell alone made Webber's mouth water. As much as he wanted to ingest the cooked slab of flesh on his own, he sliced a piece off and gave it to Rooney. The spider chewed the flesh sustenance with rapid motions and finished its ration quickly. Webber, on the other hand, took his time consuming his portion to savor its taste.

The meat was steaming and tender as he chomped on his first bite. The flavor of smoky juices filled his taste buds as a more filling element was entering his mouth. It felt like Webber hadn't tried meat for years when remembering its flavor. After a few more bites too big for any normal child, he was finished with his meal.

A small grin appeared on his face upon feeling the aftertaste of his most delectable meal since his arrival to the island. Rooney had gone to the trouble to lay right beside him. The newborn spider had grown attached to him rather quickly; Webber was still thrilled of his new companion. This led him to think once again about the obscurity of the spider nest still sprawled around the ground.

The egg didn't hatch hundreds of little babies like he thought it would. Instead, it seemed to act as a nest that materializes spiders inside. He couldn't comprehend how it worked, but he was sure that many more will hatch from it. Webber then turned his attention to his bag.

Inside it was the ever so interesting blueprint that he had found. He reached in to grab the blueprint out of the satchel, and then opened it up. It looked like it could be built with a couple of goods that could be easily found. Actually, it appeared that Webber had everything needed to build this contraction. He was sure that the shiny mineral he had found was the gold needed to build this device.

"Hmmm," he thought. "Should I build this thing," He took a slight pause. "What does this thing even do?"

'Machine tailored to advance the mind with new scientific inquires'

"Oh, gee. Yea that's really helpful," he sarcastically retorted.

It was strange, but the boy felt the actual need to construct the contraption. It wasn't his inner conscious but some other motive that drove the idea of making the machine. For some reason, it felt vaguely familiar. Though, his memory was quite jumbled up.

"Should I really do it?" he stated with disdainful eyes.

*screech

The sound of Rooney's voice felt like a form of conformation to the little boy. Webber smiled slightly at the spider.

"Alright, then." He said with little determination. "It's not like it'll do any harm right," he turned to Rooney for a response in which he replied with another shriek.

Webber set himself to work, he started by refining his logs. He got the better end of a flint and accurately smoothed out a couple of wooden beams. The blueprint specified on a three foot stool to keep the machine in balance which is what he worked on next. After completing the fixed stool that is needed to maintain the machine, he then followed the plans for the lever and rotating wheels.

These functions of the machine were quite difficult to follow, and frankly Webber didn't think he would be able to make them without the initial plans. Next was designing the rocky exterior that lay around the wooden hull. The plan stated to use dry mud as a form of cement to layer the rocks together. The entire project seemed to tie together.

The only thing left was the gold that was to be placed in the middle of the contraption. It was specified that the gold was suppose to power the machine and its functions.

Webber seemed hesitant to part away with the overflowing mineral of energy. The piece of gold appeared way too valuable to just use in this strange machine. But then again, gold is pretty useless out in the wild.

"Well, here goes nothing." He stated. After a few short breaths, he finally mustered his strength to drop the gold in the middle of the machine. Webber then reached his arms to the lever that would power the device.

He placed his two hands on top of the lever, but didn't move.

'Is this thing really safe' he thought. Although it was a very slim chance, the device might put the little boy in potential danger. After all, this island was known for its foreign knowledge of peril and uncertainty. 'No Webber, stop being paranoid. It's just some stupid machine. What bad could it do?' His face had created a frown due to the constant worry and doubt.

Rooney noticed his distress and crawled closer to the boy while letting out a squeal of comfort. Webber looked down at the concerned spider. His mind had eased up a little and he managed to form a small grin.

"Thanks Rooney," he said nonchalantly. "We should be fine."

His hand had then pulled down the lever with consistent motion. The machine began to beam. The gears started rotating and mechanical noises could be heard. Webber backed up a bit at the machines sudden movements. Rooney was right beside him, flinching at the strange machinery's actions.

Then it hit Webber.

A sudden thought frequency had impacted Webber and his mind began to expand. Webber's eyes lost its pupils and his mouth hung agape as the machine shot tons of information throughout his head. He could see theoretical formulas and concepts swarm around him in circles in just a couple of seconds. He kept receiving scientific knowledge at an alarmingly fast rate that it was incredible difficult to process for the small child.

His mind then focused on the core knowledge of basic survival. He received dozens of information on creating useful items from the materials found on the island. The sudden mind burst narrowed down and he could now just focus on the information that mattered to him. There were plans of farming, new forms of survival equipment, designs of new structures, and even how to make clothing.

"Ahhhhhhhh," he cried in pain. Webber was forced on his knees as the boundless amount of information poured into his head. He grasped his head with both hands as to ensure the safety of his young mind. The vast amount of information started over clogging his head and produced an extravagant form of pain. He felt his head heat up exponentially as sharp jabs of pain were focused on his brain.

Finally, it stopped. The information suddenly stopped flowing and Webber could slightly calm down. Though, he was now suffering from a massive migraine thanks to the horrible onslaught the device had delivered unto him.

Rooney, who was still beside him, shot Webber worried glances as he witnessed his friend cry out in agonizing pain.

After several long minutes, his head was in a better condition. He then stood upright and tried to decipher the incident that had just occurred. Webber stared intently at the machine that was still methodically working.

He still could see the items that were subjugated in his head just earlier. He wondered what would happen if he switched the machine off for a while. Will he still retain the knowledge that was previously passed onto him? With this in mind, Webber then reached the lever with his arm and gently pulled it back up.

The mechanical chimes of the device suddenly stopped as it began to power down. Webber, who had been filled with new ideas to make his stay here much more comfortable, had abruptly become ignorant. No more details on farming or survival tools that once filled his head.

"So as long as this stays on, I should have knowledge." He pondered. "There were a lot of useful things." Webber then flipped the switch once more to reactivate the device. The core knowledge once again flowed in his head. This time, it didn't overflow with massive information.

Webber's first thought was to create a farm. With the proper equipment, he would be able to create a suitable environment for plant growth. The machine fed him the necessary info on basic materials that would need to be gathered. Once his farm was set up, he could use the seeds that are dropped by birds to plant. Webber wouldn't have to worry much about food then.

"Food!" he suddenly exclaimed. "We really don't have much left," his gaze shifted to the pile of reserves that resembled what was left of his rations. A handful of berries along with some birchnuts were layered on the ground under some tree leaves. Hardly anything left.

The sound of a wail then reminded Webber that there was someone new to be fed. Rooney stood by him with a quizzical look. Webber looked at him for a moment, then up to the sky. The sun was shining right above their heads, which indicated that it was now the afternoon. The machine had drained a few hours out of his day. Webber's pile of logs also seemed to be short, maybe enough for another night at most.

"Okay Rooney, here is what we'll do." He stated to him while kneeing to his level. "We need food and we need poop. The best thing we could think of is the savannah. There are lots of rabbits running around and I could use the poop from those oversized cows."

What concerned Webber were the rabbits. The last time he encountered them, he couldn't do much as touch them let alone catch them. That's where Rooney comes in. He hopes that Rooney can lead the rabbits to Webber and they could corner it.

"Hey Rooney," Webber said. "You think you could help be catch a bunch of rabbits for dinner." The spider then gave his usual reply. The only real way to find out is to test it out in action. "Guess I'm going to have to take that as a yes."

Webber then turned to gather materials for his upcoming voyage. He made another backpack that he was able to fashion out of grass and sticks. The bag was made fairly easily thanks to his new machine. He then propped both of his empty bags unto his shoulders and gripped his spear with one hand. One bag was for rabbit meat while the other was meant entirely for poop. He definitely didn't want the two to mix.

"Alright Rooney, we're off." He declared.

Webber trotted down his usual path, picking up seeds found along the way. He noticed that he lost his knowledge from the machine just after walking a couple feet away from it. This didn't really matter to him since all he needed to know were the materials needed to craft his items. He even decided to harvest some more grass and sticks considering their usefulness.

Rooney was following the oversized spider boy as they passed the brick path splitting in two directions. They traveled for a good hour of nonstop treading before finally arriving at their destination.

"The savannah," Webber cheered.

The fields of yellow hue resonated throughout the land. Big open plains were placed contrary to their precedent biome. Rabbits could be seen dozens of yards away; the savannah was a perfect place to hunt for prey because of its expanded view.

"Woah!" announced Webber.

Not too far from where he stood were beefalos amassed in a small herd. There were at least five of them in total and all looked tremendously huge in comparison to his fragile little body.

"It'd be best to avoid that direction," he stated nervously. "Follow me Rooney." The spider wailed before following his friend in the opposite direction to try their luck against rabbits.

Webber had spotted his prey only five yards away, and he was standing in front of the hole of said prey. "Okay, Rooney." He whispered quietly. "I want you to sneak up behind it and lead it to me, got it?" The spider screeched to his remark then proceeded to circle its way around their target. 'Maybe he actually understood us' Webber thought.

Webber then tensed up as he raised his spear to eye level. He slowly arched his back down and bent his knees to retain a form of balance that was ready to strike. Rooney had conveyed to his wish and snuck around the side of the rabbit. The rabbit then sensed the potential danger as the arachnid slowly made its way to it. The rabbit's eyes perked up, with pupils wide and stood upright; ready to break running at a moment's notice.

There was an increase in atmosphere as Rooney stopped to observe his target's actions. Chills were sent down Webber's spine as he anxiously waited for either of them to move. It became incredible silent as he watched the motionless figures in total standstill. Webber didn't even dare swallow his saliva for fear of the sudden noise will cause their target to flee in panic.

Finally, Rooney let out a cry before dashing at their prey. The rabbit then burst out in rapid sprints towards his home where he would wait out his predator. Unfortunately for the rabbit, Webber stood right between the home and its occupant. In a panic, the rabbit tried to shift its momentum against his assailant. Webber quickly enforced his weapon on his prey to finish it off in one go.

Alas, the rabbit was too quick and had evaded the assault from his predator. Before the rabbit could even think of a different means to enter its home, Rooney had attacked. The spider was following the target the entire time, and was able to land a direct bite across the torso of the mammal.

"Way to Go, Rooney!" Webber jumped with excitement.

The spider held the morsel in its mouth as his companion jumped with glee. Rooney then stuffed the rabbit in its mouth to eat.

"What! Rooney no." Webber replied. But it was too late. The spider had already begun chewing their caught meal and swallowed it whole after a few moments.

Webber sat down next to the complacent spider with a frustrated groan. "Rooney, you weren't supposed to eat it." He began. "We are supposed to be gathering food, not eating food. I guess you might've been hungry, we're starting to get a little hungry too. But from now on, I don't want you eating them unless I tell you its okay. Understand," he finished. The spider took a few moments to process what Webber had said before replying with a screech.

"Alright, let's try this again." He said while propping himself up.

The next attempt to hunting the rabbits went more smoothly. Webber was able to strike the rabbit before turning tail and running into Rooney. Webber then demonstrated to him once again that he could not eat the reserves without his consent using the actual morsel as a visual reference. After an hour or so, they managed to collect a total of seven morsels. All were skinned and properly cleaned before storing in his bag. Much to Webber's discomfort, he allowed Rooney to indulge on the remains of the rabbits.

"Alright, this should last us awhile." Webber stated. "Now, onto part two of our agenda." His eyes turned to the area of the beefalos. He needed their feces. Not a lot, just enough to fill half of his bag.

"Okay Rooney, here's the plan." He started. "We'll go headfirst to their poop and gather as much as we can before hightailing it out of there as quick as possible." It wasn't really much of a plan, but Webber couldn't really think of any other way to get around those beefalo. He simply needed to harvest their rich manure, though at the same time he couldn't risk fighting them all at once. He couldn't even think he'd stand a chance against one of them let alone five.

Webber took a deep breath, "Alright Rooney, stay here. When you see us running towards the forest, you do the same." The spider screeched in acknowledgement.

Webber then laid down his spear and satchel filled with morsels onto the ground. He carried the empty satchel with one arm and walked slowly to the herd of beefalos as Rooney stood in place. Webber grew hesitant as he made his way to the towering beasts.

The animals on this island were certainly foreign and strange compared to those he's used to. So far, the strange creatures that he had met always appeared hostile towards the spider child. Webber feared that these giant creatures would notice his presence and violently attack him. In this case, he would just sprint back to the spot where Rooney was and lose them in the forest.

However, the beefalos didn't seem to notice his presence as he slowly advanced to the herd. There was a huge pile of available feces just about ten yards away from the herd. Webber swallowed his saliva as a hard lump of spit made its way down his throat. His breaths became more shallow and soft. His heartbeat rapidly increased. Sweat was sliding down the sides of his face. His mind was set on one goal; retrieve as much manure as he could, then leave. There was no need to confront the abnormally massive creatures.

With quick movements, Webber launched himself in the direction of the substance. On his knees, he started to aggressively pour manure into his bag. All in while gagging at the intoxicating smell. Although his adrenaline filtered out such senses as he feared desperately that the herd would notice him and take charge.

Nothing.

Webber heard no signs of a monstrous stampede taking charge in his direction. He glanced up, the beefalo hadn't even moved from their initial position. They stood motionless, nibbling on nearby grass found on the terrain. Webber's heart seemed to reset to its normal speed and he was able to calm himself down. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uhhh, disgusting." He commented.

The fumes of the manure reached the open mouth of the boy's taste buds. He gagged violently from the horrid substance as he tried to restrain his composure. After a few moments, he finally settled down.

"That's enough of this crap," he gestured at the feces on the ground. His bag was about half full and a lot heavier than he expected it to be. Webber stole one more glance at the beefalo before walking to his required location.

Rooney had decided to take a nap while waiting for him to return. Webber smiled at his companions sleeping position.

"Hey," he whispered. "Wake up, Rooney." The spider slightly opened his eyes before letting out a big yawn. It then propped itself up and faced Webber. "Come on, let's go you lazy bum." Webber replied.

The two of them then headed in the direction of their campsite. Webber picked and consumed a few berries along the way to void off his hunger until his next meal. Although, there weren't many bushes left with ripe berries considering he has been by this area before. He also stopped by the side of the ocean to wash off his filthy hands.

Webber and Rooney made it to their destination in a few hours time. It took slightly longer traveling back since Webber was carrying two bags on his back that caused a considerable amount of weight on the dear boy. All in all, he was still able to carry back his supplies with no breaks while traveling.

Upon arrival to their campsite, Webber placed his bags near his tools and proceeded to lean against a rock. He started up the fire to prepare some morsels that they caught as their next meal. He placed the pieces of meat onto two sticks and began roasting them. The morsels were small enough that he didn't need his shovel to cook them with. Webber then placed one of the cooked morsels next to Rooney as he prepared to feast upon his own. He halted his actions when Rooney didn't touch his food.

"You could eat this, it's your meal." Webber stated. Upon hearing this, the spider quickly scarfed down his meal in just a few bites. "You rascal."

Webber began savoring his meal when he heard scuffled ramblings somewhere nearby. He turned his attention to the spider nest that began shaking all of a sudden. Out of the silk threads of the oval shaped nest appeared another arachnid similar to that of Rooney.

Webber was immediately on his feet as the newborn spider observed its surroundings. Rooney was the first one to take action as he slowly made his way to his acquired brethren. The two spiders then stared at each other intently. The newborn seemed to be a bit larger than Rooney when compared from side to side. Rooney let out a screech communicating to the spider who replied similarly. This went on for a few moments before they both turned their attention to Webber.

Webber had already grabbed a piece of meat to lure the spider closer to him in the midst of his excitement. The new formed spider glanced at Rooney before gently making its way towards the spider humanoid. Webber kneed down to its level holding the morsel close to his chest. The spider stopped a foot beside Webber; any closer would mean direct contact with the strange being. Webber reached his hand out to pet the arachnid, which caused it to back away a few inches.

"It's okay," he softly whispered. "We won't hurt you." Webber inched the piece of morsel slightly closer to bait the young spider. The spider then reached forward allowing the child to caress its head. The soft fuzz of the creature caused a sort of excitement in Webber's heart. He smiled softly as he then moved the morsel closer to the newborn spider. Webber stared in delight as it began to happily nibble on its treat. A warm sensation was poured into the mind of the spider child. He had made another friend.

"I wonder what I should call you," he thought. "How about…Charlotte?" The spider showed an expression of distaste at the mention of the name. Webber didn't even think the creature was capable of expressing such emotions on a physical level. "Fine, how about…uhhh." He thought of many different cool names he could think of; this spider certainly seemed like a picky one.

"Raven!" he finally cheered. The spider then screeched in affirmation. "Alright, from now on your name is Raven. This here is Rooney and our name is Webber." He gestured to Rooney and himself. "From now on, we're in this thing together." Both spiders screeched in agreement this time.

With the help of his new companion, Webber set upon working the construction of the soon to be farm. The valiant spiders rolled large rocks to form a small square border around the area Webber began fertilizing. He used his shovel to help cultivate the ground and began to spread the manure around evenly. It was dirty work, but the soil had been fertilized and was ready for farming. Thus, he implanted the few seeds he was able to obtain throughout his voyage.

A flash of light suddenly enhanced the entire area; followed by a thundering boom that crashed throughout the area with invigorating sound. Webber easily classified it as lightning. His friends cowered in fear upon the rambunctious bang.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just lightning." He assured. The spiders glanced at him before calming down. The sky had then fallen grey and light water droplets fell from the sky.

"Oh sweet, rain! We love the rain, it was always fun to play out in the rain." He commented. "Come on guys, let's have some fun!"

Before the spiders could respond, Webber had already darted to the nearest puddle and began splashing away. The spiders pursued him as he darted around like a playful puppy. Webber then cupped his hands together to spray water at Rooney and Raven as they whisked his way. Rooney seemed to play along and dodged the upcoming attacks while Raven stood there in total distaste.

"Oooooo, someone's mad." He taunted as Raven set chase to the little boy. "You're gonna have to catch me," he said as he playfully ran away from the agitated spider. Rooney joined the chase in the efforts to catch the young boy. They ran from tree to tree, swerving around the area in a desperate attempt to pounce on their friend. All in while, Webber was smiling away with short bursts of laughter from time to time.

*CRASH

A sudden bolt of lightning violently crashed near Webber. The tremendous force flung his body a few yards away. He landed face first from the impact and then rolled across the ground. The uneven ground scratched and bruised small parts of his body as he was hurdled with tremendous speed. When the momentum slowed down to a standstill, Webber tried to rise to his feet.

However, the deafening sound emitted from the strike had damaged his ears which threw him off balance. He flopped from side to side desperately trying to stand himself up. His ears were numbed to any noise present as he couldn't even hear the sound of the rain. All was heard was a ringing noise that blandly resembled any sound at all. He could make out two moving blobs in the distance. After several minutes, his senses were starting to recover as he grew conscious of the surrounding area.

Next to him were two concerned spiders that cried out to their friend for a response. Webber then set his gaze upon the initial strike. He saw a tree ablaze and split in two. The leaves were burned to ashes and the bark had singed cracks all around them. Pieces of bark lay scattered across the ground near the burning tree. Webber was lucky that the lightning didn't strike him instead. He almost died.

"Let's head back," he sternly stated. The rain was still pouring and dark clouds signified that lightning could strike again. Webber tensed up in fear. He had gotten lucky once, but it could very well strike them again the next time. He remembered that the science machine had embedded some information about a device capable of reverting lighting strikes onto itself for protection. Webber greatly needed to craft the device before the next strike happened. He sprinted in the direction of the machine with the spiders struggling to keep up to his pace. Upon arrival, the knowledge entered the mind of the little boy. The schematics and designs for the machine flowed through his mind in an efficient manner.

"No," he softly exclaimed. "I need at least three pieces of gold, one is hard enough." But he didn't have time to bicker, time was of the essence. Webber quickly strapped one of his backpacks on and grabbed hold of his pickax.

He signaled to his two spider friends, "Okay, guys. We need to find gold as quick as possible; they're in a big rock that looks kind of shiny. We need you guys to help us find look for them, when you think you found one we want you to signal us, okay." He finished. The spiders took a moment to process his words before letting out a screech in unison.

With haste, Webber set off to search for his required materials. He decided it was best to search in areas he hasn't been to before as to find the rare mineral. The rain made it incredible difficult to tread through the forest, it even hindered his visibility. After a few moments of rapid movements, he heard the wail of one of his spider friends.

Rooney had found two large boulders close to each other that had a gold streak embedded to them.

"Great job! Rooney." Webber exclaimed. The spider then shrieked with jubilation due to his verbal praise. Meanwhile, Webber hurriedly chipped away at the boulders with great finesse. The rain had drenched his pickax which made it harder to swing with every strike. Yet Webber held onto the tool with an enhanced grip, ignoring the blistering pain that came with the ferocious strikes.

Rooney stared in awe as Webber finished mining the first boulder with quick speeds. He wasted no time as he stashed the gold nugget into his bag and continued on the next boulder. Webber was striking the rocks with much more force than usual due to his velocious press for time. This backfired when his pickax spapped in two.

"No no no," he softly stated. "It can't break now, not when we need it the most." He angrily threw the useless commodity to the side as he grabbed a nearby rock. "I'll just have to use this," he shouted as he lifted the rock over his head. He slammed the rock on top of the boulder with repetitive motions. His hands bruised heavily and blood spilled lightly from the cracks from his skin. Finally, he was able to reach the gold nugget at the epicenter of the rock. He retrieved it with his distorted, wounded hands and placed it into his bag.

"We're just going to have to use these two gold nuggets," he said towards Rooney. "Wait, where's Raven?" Webber rotated his head one hundred and eighty degrees before turning his body the other way to scan the remaining area.

"Raven!" he shouted. It was still raining heavily and the sky had darkened a while before searching for gold. Then he heard tiny footsteps rustling nearby along with a muffled screech. Raven appeared just a few yards away with a gold nugget on the roof of his mouth.

"You found one, but how?" he questioned. Raven then placed the mineral on the ground as Webber launched at him with open arms. He lifted Raven up from the ground and gave it a tight bear hug.

"Oh, Raven. You're a life saver. Great job!" he replied. The spider was squealing with discomfort as the oversized spider humanoid continued to express his affection.

"Alright, let's get going. There's no time to waste," he stated after releasing the spider onto the floor.

Webber immediately began his work upon arrival to his campsite. He wasted no time as he melded the gold together following the instructions of the machine. The machine provided all the necessary equipment along with the information to develop the device. Webber also crafted some fine stone, or cut stone, out of some rocks from his pile of resources.

After just half an hour, Webber was able to successfully craft the lightning rod. He placed it a about ten yards away from the fire pit since he didn't want it too close to anything important, especially not near the spider nest.

"Nice, now we won't have to worry about those lightning strikes anymore. I should start the fire now since its getting dark."

His heart must have stopped for a moment, since a sudden feel of despair worked its way into his mind.

It was still raining.

How could he create a fire with water constantly falling from the sky? To make matters worse, the remaining logs he had left were all saturated and wet from the never ending downpour. Webber's mind processed the possibility of being submerged in obscured darkness; where the unidentified monster lurked. The very creature that haunted his very existence. Treading the lands where light is but a foreign concept, patiently waiting for its prey to step into the crimson void. The empty, shallow pit of anguish found in the foreign twilight where no one can hear the horrific onslaught.

"No!" he shouted startling the spiders beside him. "We can't let that happen, we can't be exposed to the dark." Webber's heart rate rose dramatically as he prepared some kindling. His breathing became exceedingly irregular. Rooney and Raven held expressions of immense concern upon viewing their hysterical friend.

Webber then took hold of two pieces of flint and aggressively slammed them together. This created thousands of sparks to fly out of the minerals which then landed onto the kindling.

Upon close contact to the material, they vanished. Some even disappeared as soon as they were created. Webber repeatedly smashed the two stones together in a frantic attempt to spark a flame. Only to no avail. The kindling was just too damp.

Webber finally stopped his frenzied actions. It was hopeless; there was no way to start a fire with the rain pouring. His face expressed utter failure, totally demoralized from his struggle to survive.

He figured that this was the end; there was nothing else that he could do. Rooney and Raven had huddled close to the spider boy in an endeavor to comfort him. He brought them close and sobbed softly at his renowned doom. If he were to die, at least he would be with beings that cared about him.

To Webber's dismay, the sun had completely disappeared. The landscape narrowly became lost in the narcotic, black void. Slowly around him, he could see less and less. Until finally, he could see nothing at all. The only feeling he had were the two small spiders that had huddled close to him. They provided him the comfort he desperately needed when exposed to his greatest fear.

Then, he heard it. It was the sound of the beast, he was so sure of it. It emitted a ghastly presence around him and his spiders. The sickening, rasping sounds could be heard only just a few yards away. It sounded beyond human, no that wasn't quite right. Even animals had a sense of emotion and often expressed them with their actions. This…thing…was beyond anything he could think of. All Webber could feel were the negative sentiments harbored deep within its mind. It had no trace of happiness or even instincts, just the need to kill. To desolate anything it could get its hands on. It lived in the darkness, thrived in it. It was the total embodiment of foreboding and fear.

And it was getting closer.

Webber's eyes widened as far as they could. His heart was exploding inside his chest. Each step heard from the beast was sheer torture for the boy as it signified its approaching stature. The worst, though, was that he didn't know when it would strike. He couldn't see anything; there was no way to tell what the creature even looked liked. He felt that the slightest movement would anger the foul beast, so he tried not to.

Then he felt an enormous mass of pressure. It felt like strong currents of water were pressing down on him as he sat still. He could no longer move even if he wanted to. Oh how he desperately wanted to flee, the astounding amount of pressure filled him with negative thoughts. Fear, anxiety, despair, doubt, horror, panic, suspicion, agitation, cowardice all swirled in his mind upon the towering figure. It was right beside him, patiently toying with its prey; feeding off his insecurities as he was utterly useless.

*BANG

A thundering crash had illuminated the entire area if only for a split second. Lightning had struck his rod. It now glowed a yellow hue from the electrical charge that had energized it. Webber seized his opportunity as he held both his spiders and dashed towards the newfound light source. He stopped by his lightning rod and searched around for any trace of the beast. The only thing that could be heard now was the light drops of rain along with his heavy panting.

Just what was the creature anyway? He was so sure that it had been standing right next to him when the lightning had struck. The sensations he felt from the ominous presence were far too real to be considered some sort of hallucination. But when the lightning hit and the area was available for just a split second.

He saw nothing.

 **Author's note: I hoped you all enjoyed this story as much as I did. I like shifting from nice fluffy scenes to the more serious ones that appeared in this chapter. After all, Webber is a child and would have his fun given the chance but this island is dark and evil. So yea, I appreciate any feedback that can help improve my writing or just general reviews. I thank all those who have read my story so far and look to update soon. I apologize for any grammatical errors found but I did try to edit it myself. College is also taking a huge amount of my time away so some chapters will probably come late, sorry. Also, I updated my profile. So if your interested, you could check it out and find out a little bit about my interests and ect. Until then, so long and have a wonderful day!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Wow, thanks for the compliment. I'm really glad you like my story. As for the stories in the Don't Starve category, there really isn't that many. Most of them are really short too with so much potential just suddenly halted. Nevertheless, I have a lot planned for our little friend. Some good things but also bad things. I hope to keep you interested in the upcoming chapters that I have planned.**

 **Paramillo: I'm glad you like my story, I feel so loved. As for other characters, I do have maybe one or two planned to join the story but I'm not sure yet. Okay, I lied. I do know the answer to your question but I want to keep it a secret. Just know that I mainly want to focus the story on Webber but other characters are a possibility. Hope to keep you interested.**


	4. Among Family

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

 **I know I'm really late on this chapter, but here it is so enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Among Family

Four days have passed since the incident of Webber's close demise. So close was he to perish by the hands of the dark entity before lightning had ironically saved him. Since that day, Webber made preparations to further increase his chances of surviving against the beast and the island.

Rain was a particular element that worked against him, it made it impossible to strike a fire with the consistent drops of formulated water. Thus, Webber went to work on a contraction or shelter that can block off rain water to create a fire.

Luckily, he figured out that the spider thread that he started to grow on his chin would make a fine cloth type material. After his beard had grown some, he shaved it off with a razor he had crafted. He then constructed a sort of tarp that was stretched out into the air with his silky material. It was held up by two long straight sticks and rope at the ends that tied the tarp to the ground. One stick was latched firmly on the ground and in a vertical position, the other was heavily tied near the top of the first stick in a horizontal position. The tarp laid over the second stick and was strapped to the ground with four ropes at the corners of the tarp giving a triangle sort of formation. It was sturdy enough not to crumble at the slightest touch and the tarp was high enough from the fire pit as to avoid being burned.

Webber was extremely proud of his work, it provided adequate shade and best of all allowed him to create fires without any worry for rain. That science machine sure proved to be extremely useful and he was glad to have built it. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't constructed the strange contraption, he probably wouldn't be alive.

In the days that passed, Webber also composed two large chests to store all of his resources. In one chest, he filled resources he deemed useful such as: sticks, rocks, grass, and tools. The other was filled with anything that could be considered a meal which unfortunately only contained berries, carrots, and birch nuts.

The only problem is that the food seems to spoil rather quickly, which is why him and his spiders consume any meat they obtain on that same day. The science machine didn't specify on a device that he could craft to solve this problem, therefore he had no way to address it.

Webber did manage to craft a crockpot thanks to the science machine though. The crockpot made it easier to cook food and things that just flat out tasted better when he cooked from it.

Webber considered building himself a tent for him and his spiders but decided to wait on it. The only reliable resource that could be crafted into a cloth thus far was his silk. That and the mass of silk webbing from the spider nest which had thoroughly increased in size. There was no way he would even think of taking it down just to build some stupid shelter, but there were other purposes he could use the silk for.

Silk would give him the opportunity to craft fishing rods to try his luck on the deep pond nearby. He could also craft bug nets or bird traps to secure a better means of food production.

Webber thought it would be great to develop a honey bee box since the bees he found on this island were the size of his hand. They would surely supply him with a consistent amount of honey that would certainly add flavor to all his meals. Alas, his best bet at obtaining silk webbing was through his beard. He just needs to be a bit patient.

At least his farm was developing rather quickly. In just three days, he managed to grow five carrots from his farm. The strange thing was how they grew in the first place, normally plants grow lots of vegetables from a single seed in a good number of months.

These seeds, however, only grew one fruit or vegetable from every seed he could gather. On the plus side, it only took a couple of days at most so that they could be harvested.

Webber then began to see the enormous differences that this island had from his prior experience of life. In an insight from Webber, he thought it would be beneficial to plant the pine cones from the trees he had been mercilessly chopping down.

The trees managed to grow into full-fledged pine trees in just a matter of days. In similar ways, the berry bushes would also grow more berries in just a few days time. The small saplings even produced more branches so that he could gather more sticks.

In was subtle details like this that subjugated the question to poor Webber. Just where the hell was he?

He often thought that he was just stranded on some isolated island but now he wasn't so sure. Things were just so different from the normal laws of physics he was used to.

After all, there were strange creatures that lived on this island. Most of them he wasn't particularly fond of but they were all still very peculiar, along with the strange, new resources about the area.

Like the gold nuggets Webber was able to find afterwards. One day, he questioned how Raven was able to find a piece in its mouth, therefore he decided to search in that surrounding area. He was sure that maybe there were just scattered around since Raven had found one out of the blue. But what he found sent shivers down his spine.

Close to the area he was searching prior was an immense graveyard. Heavy fog was set around the area, graves were scattered around. The ground was a heavy dark, and the atmosphere shifted to eerie mood. A sense of hopelessness plunged into Webber's mind as he approached the tombstones.

'Milk. Eggs. Bacon.'

His mind was washed with relieved confusion as he read the inscriptions in his mind. 'How could someone's grave even have such foolish comments on them?' He thought.

'Here lies some guy. Blah blah blah'

Webber started to embrace in laughter at the strange comments left on the tombstones. He knew he shouldn't be laughing at graves of the deceased but he now wondered if they were even real graves.

This world was truly strange, and could be somewhere different altogether. After all, the one that brought him here was some strange, fancy man. Webber continued down the graveyard with refined ease with the thought they were probably not real. It's not like he met much people on this island, and there was no real proof that they died here.

He would have to dig up the grave to figure that out, but even if they were fake; Webber didn't like the idea of digging up graves. Throughout the graveyard, he was able to find gold nuggets just lying around. That's when an idea popped in his head.

'What if these graves actually held treasure inside.' He pondered. The thought of treasure got him all riled up inside. The subject to embrace treasure hunting opened up his inner child once more.

Then he realized that he would have to dig up the graves, and his excitement vanished. He couldn't do that, even with the ridiculous writings engraved on them. He pulled up close to the nearest tombstone to once more read the scripture to lift his mood.

'Here lies the body of Webber. KILLED BY CHARLIE.'

Webber's eyes widened. Fear returned to the little boy. The graveyard suddenly felt more surreal. His name was engraved on the tombstone.

"That's impossible!" he yelled. "We're right here, we're perfectly fine." The spiders around him cast him strange glances. "Is this some sort of cruel joke, that's not funny." Nothing responded. All that was heard were the sounds of the dark forest that embraced in his anxiety. "Who the hell is Charlie anyway, we've never even heard of that person." Just as the boy was about to let out another comment, Rooney screeched.

Webber turned to his direction and met his gaze. The spider stared intently at Webber with great concern. Tears began to swell up in the little boy, and the surrounding air became harder to breath as a hard lump of spit was swallowed. He reached down to embrace the spider as he let out muffled chokes of grief. Once he recomposed himself, they left the graveyard. Along with two gold nuggets.

Yes, the spiders definitely helped the little boy. Soon he had required a whole new group of friends that accompanied him through thick and thin.

In the past days, Webber was thrilled with the events that took place with the spider nest. Webber received four new companions to add to his little family. One popped up the exact next day of the incident. Webber named it Fobia, he called it this because the spider seemed to be very timid from its previous brethren.

It even took some time to get accustomed to Webber and the other spiders that had sprung from the nest. Through some time, Fobia learned to slightly get along with Rooney and Raven but still was a little unsure about Webber himself.

Sometime after Fobia's birth, the spider nest had grew in size. The next spider to appear was a new type of spider from all the preceding ones before it. Its fur was a lukewarm yellow with black streaks striped across in various parts of its body.

It was about twice the size of the regular spiders that Webber was accustomed to and displayed a sense of intimidation. Even though Webber was unsure how to approach the large spider, it happily made its way towards them. Webber found out how much of a sweetheart the spider actually was, it got along just fine with the other spiders including Fobia, who was still shy.

It immediately grew attached to Webber after he showed some affection to the newborn. He decided to call it Muffet and quickly learned that Muffet had a knack for hunting. Out of all the spiders there, Muffet was definitely the strongest as it could pounce at its prey from a great distance.

The next spider to come out of the nest was a small, little feisty one. It was clearly the smallest from the group, but it made up with its strong bravery and determination. While on hunting trips, it is always the one to volunteer to ensnare their prey.

The first couple times it went hunting with Webber, he had to convince it not to recklessly chase after potential prey, since they often just got away. It was for this reason that he named the spider Calamity, it only seemed right.

The very last spider was born just a day ago. Webber named it Faven, since he didn't really know too much from it besides the fact it enjoyed everyone's company. It simply liked to get along with the others which was something Webber could relate to. The spiders were the perfect company for the spider child, especially around night time.

The beast had inflicted a great burden on Webber's mental state. Every night was constant agony; he would light his fire an hour earlier, and retreat to the comfort of his companions. There was a keen sense of despair in the air as night would surround the feeble minded boy.

He felt his sanity and conscious slowly drift away each night that had passed, despite all of his efforts to remain calm. He feared the evil presence of the beast, it's always lurking in the darkness. Waiting. Webber sometimes tells himself that it can't hurt him, he tries to think that it's all in his mind. And yet, he's positive that if he were to stay in the darkness for too long, he would die.

That type of torment doesn't just go away when he wakes up either, he still feels afraid. His fear doesn't worsen, but he often sees shadows lurking in the distance. Flowers help Webber bring him back to reality, along with his spiders. The soothing aroma of scented petunia help sooth his worries. His spiders help support him through the night and reestablish his state of mind during the day. Webber doesn't know what he'd do without them.

…

Yet here he is now, carefully engaging in his next objective. He was hunting. His spiders had surrounded their upcoming prey, slowly approaching it as they had practiced through previous hunting exploits. At the epicenter of the group of predators was an unintelligent flightless bird, a turkey.

It was slowly walking in an ill-defined route with a complacent glare in its eye, totally unaware of the predators plotting its demise. It was not until Webber was within five yards of distance that the turkey had noticed any form of life.

Webber made himself appear extremely visible with no form of cover whatsoever, in order to grab its attention. That was the plan, he was just the distraction while Muffet snuck up behind it to pounce on the bird. The other spiders were covering the gaps in which the turkey would escape towards if Muffet had failed to snag in their prey.

Most of the times, there was no need to worry since Muffet was an excellent hunter. Though in the times when their prey managed to skillfully dodge Muffet's calculated attack, Calamity is always the first to engage. That spider definitely had a sense of instinct despite its size. Calamity would wound the animal while the others or Webber would finish it off.

They mostly hunted turkeys, but sometimes went for those feisty catcoons. One time a turkey got away because it dodged Muffet's attack and headed in Fobia's direction. In which the timid spider cowered away at the frantic turkey escaping its predators.

This time, Muffet was able to successfully strike their prey as it carefully watched Webber. Muffet aimed straight at its throat as to not damage the meat for future consumption.

"Way to go Muffet!" Webber cheered as the other spiders sprang from their hiding places. Muffet screeched in glee and made its way towards its friends. They engaged verbally with loud screeches. Webber laughed gently at their entwined form of bonding. The spiders then finished conversing and made their way to Webber. All, except one, began to dog pile onto the oversized spider humanoid; their fur tickling across Webber's body which caused him to laugh hysterically.

"Hey guys, stop it!" he said with giggling. "We still need to…hahaha…gather the meat." The spiders then got off one by one. Fobia was the only one that did not participate in the sudden mob towards Webber. "Awww, what's wrong Fobia," Webber cooed. "Sad that you didn't get to join the fun, how 'bout a hug," he encouraged.

Fobia just shakily stood there wondering how to precede his notion. "Okay then, but one day I'll make you love me." He said with a sense of determination and giddiness. Webber then placed his attention towards the fresh corpse on the nearby ground.

He still didn't like this part of the hunt. It was just a good thing that Webber found it a little bit easier to properly prepare the meat for consumption. After a few moments, he finished his dirty work and placed the chunks of meat in his backpack for safe keeping.

"Alright everyone, this should be enough for today." He simply stated. It really wasn't, they usually also hunt rabbits for extra food. A lot of meat was necessary to feed all six of the spiders and himself.

However, Webber had recently learned how to prepare rabbit traps and scattered many around in the savannah the previous day. He cut off chunks of any vegetation that he could grow, for bait on the traps. Webber thought it would be better to gather more meat than vegetation since his spiders would only eat flesh. In a way, the farms would still help him gather food and he planned to check the traps later throughout the day.

"Let's head on back, now would be a good time for lunch." Webber stared intently up at the sky. It seemed they still had majority of the day left ahead of them.

The spiders then happily followed Webber back to their established home, attempting to catch avian creatures along the way. Webber let out small giggles whenever they tried and failed to catch the nimble birds.

Raven took personal offense when Webber mocked the little spider, who then set chase to the boy. This riled up all the surrounding spiders, which then engaged in their silly game.

Webber saw the spiders race to catch the little boy. He cheered happily and dashed through the woods and swiftly evaded the surrounding spiders. He hid behind a bush while the spiders have lost sight of him and seemed to be formulating a plan against him.

Webber glanced around the area to remember the location, and then decided to drop his bag and spear right beside the bush. Now he could easily maneuver around the area with little ease as he escapes the upcoming tackles. He looked back to where the spiders were to see that they were no longer there.

"Oops, lost sight of them." He said bluntly. "That makes this all the more fun though." He felt adrenaline course throughout his body as he pondered where they could be. He made light steps from his general area to maybe cover some distance from them, or even spot some of them. He crouched low on the ground to make himself appear less visible.

*snap

Webber heard a twig break from his left. He swiftly traveled and hid behind a tree to observe the figure in the distance. He saw Faven in the distance, slowly treading the area for any sign of Webber. Webber could barely control his laughter as the spider unknowingly walked away from his position. Then, Faven suddenly pierced his eyes toward his direction.

Webber hid his face behind the tree. 'Did Faven see us? How did Faven even know where we were?' Webber grew tense as he began to once again shift his eyes from behind the tree to spot where the spider was. He didn't see Faven.

That's when Webber heard a small screech from his left side as the spider had lunged to his direction. Webber used his leg to push himself from the tree out of instinct and started dashing in small directions. After Faven had missed its target, the spider tried to follow Webber's movements.

"What's wrong little guy," he said mockingly after coming to a halt a few feet away from the spider. "Can't keep up." Webber was quite confident that the spider couldn't catch up with him when he used his full speed. That's when Webber swore that Faven smiled at him.

The air pressure suddenly changed directly from behind him, as his senses were alerted. He had little time, so he plunged directly face forward so that gravity could aid him descent. A large spider shot at him with tremendous speed just barely missing him by a few inches. The spider was no other than Muffet, who proceeded to crash into Faven from the front.

Out from the shadows came Calamity, who charged at the grounded boy. Rooney appeared close by and had positioned itself in a stance to capture the boy if he managed to escape.

'Wow, these guys were really prepared. They must have found me and planned this all out.' He thought.

Webber quickly rolled to the right away from Calamity's aggressive advancement making his way towards Rooney. Rooney was confused at first as the boy would have nowhere to run if he continued on his path. Until Webber had stationed himself on his feet and leapt backwards over the spider's body. This was the first time that Webber had attempted a back summersault and relied on pure instincts. This was a mistake.

Webber landed face first just a few yards away from the spiders. Calamity and Rooney stopped in their tracks due to shock of his failed summersault. Webber lifted his face to be met with a spider.

Raven was only inches away from the boy with a look of content plastered on the spider's face. Just next to Raven was Fobia who didn't seem to want to participate in the event. Raven lifted one of its legs and placed it onto Webber's forehead as if saying 'Caught you.' A frown formed on Webber's face as the spider gloated in his defeat.

"Alright, 'nuff fun." He said unenthusiastically. "Let's head back for real this time," he said with a slight smile.

Webber made his way back to the bush where he stashed his supplies and arrived at the camp a few minutes later. Their home was not that initially far from the place they hunted the turkey, since Faven was the one who spotted the turkey nearby.

Webber cooked their meal in the crock pot and managed to split it into equal portions. Well, one piece was bigger than the others considering Muffet needed more sustenance than the rest of the spiders. He also managed to cook his own portion separately from the others since they didn't eat any form of vegetation or nuts.

While his meal was cooking and the others vigorously ate at their own meal, he figured he should check his resources. Over next to the fire pit was a large stack of logs that could last him a few days, he really stocked up on wood. He had a good amount of grass and twigs but only a few rocks. He was also running short on flint in which he used to craft his tools.

For the sorts of tools that he still had were: an ax, shovel, pickax, and a pitchfork. He crafted multiple axes since they broke quite frequently in his determination to gather lots of fuel for his fire. The pickax was also new since his last one broke at a dire situation.

For a weapon, Webber still had the spear that he had concocted. He still had an abundant amount of nuts and berries since they managed to grow again just the other day. The nuts would last him a long time before soiling while the berries would probably go bad within a week. He still had three carrots left after baiting the rabbit traps with little bits.

After reassuring himself that he was not in need of any dire supplies, he walked over to the crock pot. From there he happily ate his meal along with his companions.

After finishing, he decided it would be best to check the traps now then later on when it gets really dark. After all, it takes a good amount of time to travel to the savannah and back. He surely didn't want to risk being out in the dark at all.

"Alright gang, listen up." He stated gathering their attention. "We're heading to the savannah to check the traps we set up. You know the rules, you can't engage the beefalo. I'm talking to you Calamity." He sternly said as he eyed the petite spider. The spider, in response, shifted its head with embarrassment.

"Okay then, lets head on out." Webber grabbed his bag with spear in hand and made his way through the woods with his friends following behind. After an hour or so of treading, they arrived at the savannah.

A pack of beefalo were spotted in the distance. "Good, they stayed in their usual spot." Webber commented. "Let's go towards the traps." In the direction to the right were four laid out traps a couple hundred feet away.

Upon close inspection, it appeared that all four constructed traps have been trampled with. Three of them had actually captured their prey while the forth one managed to get away somehow.

"Guess you can't win them all," he simply said. Webber reached in for the rabbit as the spiders circled around him just in case it manages to slip right by the little boy. In a way, this was the usual setup for the group as they hunted any form of prey.

In this particular case, it wasn't really needed since none of the encased rabbits could even dash away as Webber grabbed hold of them. He carefully prepared the meat once more before discarding all the unnecessary leftovers of the carcass. In which his spiders consumed.

He reestablished his traps and left bits of carrots for the next day. They had now successfully prepared themselves dinner and they still had a good amount of time for the day. This put Webber in good spirits as he signaled them to follow him back to camp.

On his way back, he considered all the other things he could prepare from the science machine. It would have been great if he had more silk so he could set work on that bee box, but that would have to wait. So for now, he just traveled along with his friends gathering resources along his way.

Maybe he could craft more chests to store more of his items. He could even go out and search for more boulders considering he was low on rocks and flint. Unfortunately, he still had a ton of that strange mineral that was known as nitre. Webber learned the name of the mineral from the science machine but the device didn't specify on its use or functions. Nevertheless he still kept the peculiar rocks.

Webber stopped in his place, as did his spiders. He heard a noise, he knew he did. He concentrated his hearing to hear the surrounding area. His heartbeat remained balanced and still so that he could heighten his hearing sense.

There it was again, slightly louder. It appeared to be coming closer. The spiders beside Webber began to growl in frustration. Something was coming; Webber tensed his body and strengthened the grasp of his spear. There was another noise this time, but this one came from a different location. 'Are there more of them out there.' Webber thought.

Webber then heard the noise loud and clear, which shifted his expression from cautious to ghastly. That was the barking of dogs, which usually travelled in packs.

"We need to leave now!" Webber shouted. This sudden outburst brought confusion among the spiders as they looked upon him for explanation. The hounds were closing in as their barking had increased in volume.

"There's no time to waste, follow me as quick as you can," he commanded. Webber was never fond of dogs, but he did learn that they could be excellent hunters. He didn't want to risk losing any of his friends, they never went face to face with creatures that fought back. There was the catcoon, but they greatly outnumbered those. This time would be different for sure.

Webber dashed ahead with Rooney and Fobia close by. The timid spider scampered through with great fear brought upon by the conflicting situation. The others tried to join in on the run.

Unfortunately, they were cut off. In between them stood a large, black hound. The hound itself was incredibly enormous, larger than Muffet. It had large, covered teeth that looked as if they could sever one's arm with one bite.

It had intimidating eyes with no pupils whatsoever; strong black, legs that gave in incredible speed and power. A large nose that appeared skilled enough to be able to sniff out its prey with luxury. But worse of all, its jaw could open at least a foot wide that made it possible to swallow prey with ease. Plus, there were more of them on all sides.

Webber stared intently at the beast then shouted to his friends on the other side. "Run, we'll try to lure most of them away." He quickly turned to Rooney and Fobia. "Follow me." Webber dashed away on the brick layered path along with his companions.

The hound let out a howl and followed the trio with heightened haste. Two others had joined the hound in their pursuit of the trio while the rest of them followed the other group in the opposite direction.

Webber quickly made his way across the woods, periodically checking if Rooney and Fobia were following close behind. 'The others will be fine.' He thought. 'They have Muffet on their side, and there's four of them. They shouldn't have any trouble trying to protect themselves. Hopefully, we lured most of them towards us.'

Webber looked back with worry as he heard Fobia struggling to escape the incoming hounds. They were right on the spiders trail, inching closer and closer to the fragile little spider.

"You won't hurt our friend!" He yelled as he shifted his direction to the ravaging hounds. Webber plunged his spear with tremendous force towards the direction of the hound, but his footing was off. The hound managed to deck away and only suffered from a graze of the weapon.

The other two then tried to attack Webber from their respective sides. One was foiled by Rooney as the spider bit the hound in its hind leg which caused it to skid across the ground. The hound that had nothing in its way leaped towards Webber. Webber dodged its enormous jaw that was aiming for his face, unfortunately the hound guided its claw across Webber's shoulder.

This caused Webber to flinch a little in pain but recovered quickly due to the intense adrenaline pumping in his body. Fobia stood beside Webber watching the entire scenario, the spider was dazed. This child put its overall life to protect the spider because he truly cared for Fobia. Two wolves prepared to engage against the wounded child, as the other was barely fending off against the spider that managed to render its leg useless.

Webber didn't know what to do; fighting them both head on would be too much for him. The hounds clearly had the advantage and could finish him off since he couldn't hold his weapon to its full potential.

A small screech was heard from under the little boy. Fobia had stepped in front of Webber in an attempt to fend off the hounds advancing towards them. The hounds briefly stopped before slowly continuing their advancement. Even so, Fobia stood firm in its spot, obviously trembling in fear but willing to give up its life in order to protect Webber.

Webber was touched, Fobia had finally come to accept him. 'Don't worry, Fobia. We're not dying here.' He thought.

Webber sliced the soft ground with his spear. He then launched a flurry of sand attacks against the hounds to blind them temporarily. Webber signaled to Fobia to follow him away from the vicious dogs. He spotted Rooney some distance away dodging upcoming strikes from the hound it had wounded.

Webber charged at it with angered determination as he held his spear as best as he could. The weapon pieced the hound with great force and accuracy, killing it instantly. Webber frantically tore the spear out of the dog's torso to quickly navigate him and his friends away from the other hounds. They managed to hide behind some trees before the other dogs recovered from the strange onslaught.

Webber feared that the hounds would quickly sniff them out and continue the fight, but that didn't happen. The hounds noticed their fallen comrade and made their way to its dead carcass. He figured they were incredible distraught that their companion had fallen, but observed a spectacle far worse. The so called comrades had begun eating the body of their once traveling companion. This sent a horrible sensation across Webber's throat as they lavishly chewed away at the dead animal.

Even so, this was their chance. They could sneak away from the horrid animals as they feasted upon their meal. Webber signaled his friends to slowly travel away from their predators.

After gaining some distance, they halted. The pain in Webber's arm finally began to surface. Webber let out pained groans as the wound bled out a little. Rooney and Fobia grew concerned at the little boy as he sat down and leaned his back against a tree clutching his arm.

"We need you guys to do us a favor," he stated with heavy breaths. "We need you to find some grass and bring it to us, we need to apply some pressure on this wound or the bleeding won't stop." He remembered his mother doing this sort of treatment whenever he scraped his knees playing outside. "It's dangerous if I continue walking 'cause the bleeding could worsen," he finished.

Rooney agreed with an affirmative screech while Fobia seemed conflicted to leave him in his current state. "Hey, it's okay." He assured the shy spider. "If the hounds come back, I'll just hide here alright." The spider didn't seem convinced.

Rooney wanted to secure the necessary item quick in order to help his dear friend. Webber proceeded to pat Fobia on its head while Rooney snuggled his body across his face as if saying 'We'll be back in no time.' At least that's what Webber interpreted from their motions. They then set off.

Webber's slight smile disappeared upon their departure. If the hounds truly did manage to find him again, he wouldn't be able to escape. He'd have to fend them off, and he isn't positive he would be able to win against them. That could wait though, he needed to calm his nerves and rest a little. Besides, they just needed to bring him some grass; they would surely be back in a couple of minutes.

Webber continued to rest his head against the tree, minutes passed and he was able to calm himself. The surrounding nature made it easy to sooth his emotions, and tire his eyes. An overwhelming exhaustion made its way into Webber's body. The loss of blood had left him very tired. His eyes grew very restless, and heavy. 'Maybe we should rest them a bit, until they get back.'

Webber awoke with a spider wailing on his chest. He opened his eyes slowly to see Rooney on top of him and Fobia looking rather distressed. His eyes were bloodshot tired and ached with heated pain. Then Webber remembered his current situation.

Webber jolted up to his feet where Rooney then slid to the ground beneath Webber's feet. There was a vast amount of grass by the side of the tree; it appeared that the spiders gathered it while he was asleep. He glanced back at the concerned arachnids and leaned to their level.

"Thanks for the grass, but we didn't really need this much." He stated. Rooney screeched in frustration, the spider seemed greatly uneasy at Webber for some reason. Rooney then huddled close to the boy, and Fobia had followed suit.

"Hey," he started. "You guys didn't think we were dead, did you?" They simply growled in relieved comfort. "Don't worry guys, we'll make it past this." Webber grabbed some of the grass and began to tie it around his gash, while filling his backpack with the rest of the supply.

"Then again, falling asleep like that was even more dangerous than walking about," he stated with a slight chuckle. "We guess we'll be more careful from now on."

From there, the trio began to tread back to their campsite. Although, a familiar sound was enough to determine that they had been found.

Webber knew they were coming, it was the same hounds from their previous encounter. Since his arm was much better, and Fobia seemed a bit more confident, he figured they might be able to take them out if they worked together.

"Listen guys," he said to his companions. "I have a plan but I need you all to work with us okay." Webber's glare mainly focused on Fobia, who seemed to ponder a few moments before giving an affirmative screech. "Good, now listen closely."

…

The hounds were sniffing out their prey that managed to escape them. Their trail was leading them in this path since they managed to catch the metallic stench of blood. They figured it came from the strange spider humanoid that they had managed to injure in their previous fight. They hadn't received any word from the other hounds at all which led them to conclude that they were still finishing their prey off.

After a few moments, they picked up a heavy scent. It was definitely the smell of blood, that type of scent was extremely strong for the ravenous animals. They gave extreme haste to the path that the scent was leading them to.

In almost no time, they spotted the spider boy a few yards away next to a couple of trees. The strange figure was holding a sharp weapon in one hand that made the hounds cautious. They slowly observed the boy; their stubby black paws scratched the soft ground. Their large snouts let out warm, heavy breaths. Their eyes showed no mercy to their victims as they would chew off their limbs with their absurdly, large teeth. The standstill was held for some time as the boy began to grow nervous from their still movements. This is what they wanted though, to eat away at their prey's mentality making it easier to strike it down.

Finally, they both charged at the figure with the intent to profusely feed on its flesh. They solely paid their full attention at the boy in the case he fought back. The boy had clearly demonstrated his knack for combat when he struck down one of their own. They would not let their eyes be swayed by anything else besides the boy in front of them. This was their mistake.

From one of the hound's side, two spiders had attacked its torso from the side. The hound fell to the ground and yelped in great pain as the spiders began tearing away at its insides. The second hound turned to look in the direction of the sudden ambush by the concealed spiders. That was their second mistake. A spear struck the hound from the inside of its mouth and out the back of its head.

The blood then hurriedly engulfed his throat at astounding speeds which caused the hounds to die after a few moments due to blood loss.

Webber dislodged his weapon from the carcass of their attackers. He glanced over to his friends who appeared to be feasting on the carcass of the dead animal.

"Ewww, you guys are eating it." He said with disgust. "That's nasty."

Upon a closer look, he noticed that the flesh of these animals were of a bluish hue. It looked like the same type of meat that Webber had consumed on his first day.

"We wouldn't eat that even if you dared us." He stated. Then he remembered that he had greedily consumed the same type of meat before with an enormous sense of delight. "Well, we wouldn't eat that anymore at least."

The spiders then stopped their feast and appeared to be full; they weren't able to finish the entire animal though. "Alright, lets head out." He demanded.

As the trio was ready to take direction to a different location, the sky faded to an orange alteration. Dusk was upon them, and soon the island would be surrounded by an eternal void.

"What!" Webber stated raising his voice. Just how long was the little boy asleep? "It can't be close to night already, we haven't even regrouped with the others." Webber suddenly stopped his movements to analyze what he had just said. His other friends were still out there, and he didn't even know what type of conditions they were in.

'Are they okay? Did they get lost? Please tell me that they made it through without getting harmed.' Such thoughts entered the mind of the little boy as the sun began its descent across the sky.

He didn't have much time, soon nightfall would come and he needed to have light to fend off against the unspeakable horror. If he searched around for his friends, they wouldn't make it back in time before darkness consumed the land, which would be the end for them all. Thus he concluded to make his way to the campsite to start the fire before searching for the rest of his new found family.

"Let's go guys, we need to be fast." He said before dashing across the trees. The spiders followed suit at his panicked behavior, his negative mindset set the spiders in a panicked frenzy as they too hurriedly made their way with quickened haste.

After too much time had passed for the boy's taste, they made it back to their campsite. Webber quickly set his belongings down as he rapidly made his way towards the fire pit and prepped up the initial setup. He ruggedly set down the kindling with nervous movements, failing to calm his nerves. He noticed that his breathing was dreadfully high and his heartbeat rose to an exceptional level. Rooney had placed himself near the boy to offer him comfort while he was in a panicked state.

While looking at the noble spider, Webber took deep long breaths. He steadily regained his breathing and was able to set the kindling at a more efficient manner. Once the kindling was set, he reached for the pieces of flint that always were near the fire pit when he needed them. After a few solid strikes of the two stones, the fire was lit.

Seeing the fire lit washed away some of Webber's conflicting emotions and slightly put him at ease. He had hoped to see the rest of the gang at the campsite; they definitely knew where it was at. This could only be bad news if they weren't already here, something could have happened to them. They could have made a wrong turn, or ended up in foreign land. Then there was the thought that Webber kept trying to push back, deep within his mind.

'They could have died.'

"No, we refuse to believe that." He said out loud. "There were four of them and Muffet was with them, if we managed to beat our prey then they should had too." He reasoned to himself and his current spiders. "Plus, we're sure we managed to draw most of the hounds in our direction right."

Even if this was all true, there was the solid fact that the spiders still haven't made it back to the campsite. A sense of grief started to fill Webber's head and he could feel tears forming down the edges of his eyes.

"No," he said fighting back the tears. "We won't know until we find them, right guys." He glanced at them while they stared at him with looks of uncertainty. "Come on, we have to find them." He choked out after a few moments of silence.

As Webber took the first steps in the direction of the brick path, night fell. The commonly known dark emptiness returned to the island. With it also came the endless hopelessness that Webber began to feel, as the surrounding light began to fade.

'It can't be night.' He thought. 'We still haven't found our friends yet. Come on Webber, start searching for them.' Webber slowly made his way towards the entranced twilight just a couple feet in front of him. Rooney and Fobia screeched in unison at the boys suicidal actions.

"Come on guys…we have to find them," he said lightly. He took more light steps forward until coming to a stop a few inches away from the unprotected void. He couldn't make out anything beyond the scope of his light source, there was only darkness ahead.

'Come on Webber, what are you waiting for. They're counting on you, hurry up and search for them.' Yet he didn't move. 'They would do the same for you if it had been us out there, come on find them already!' still no form of movement.

'Are you just going to let them die, the ones that truly cared for you? Out of all the beings we have ever encountered, these loving creatures gave us companionship and love. Move your god damm legs already!' But he couldn't even move a muscle. 'They don't deserve a friend like you, someone who would cowardly stop to save them when needed.' Tears now flowed down his cheeks.

'Come on Webber!' he internally screamed. 'There's nothing to think about, your friends are in danger, what's life if you can't even save them.' Finally, his foot had gathered strength to lift itself off the ground. 'Good, now take a step forward.' Webber's body moved slightly in the darkness and stopped to a halt. He could sense it, the beast.

Webber trembled against its malicious aura. 'Come on, it's either face the thing or never see your friends again, is that what you wa-' his thought was interrupted by a all knowing growl of a tormenting presence. Webber flinched away from the light, retreating to his place of sanctuary.

"Dammit!" he yelled. "You coward, why couldn't you do it." He continued with great waves of tears streaming down his face. Rooney and Fobia huddled close to the boy letting out cries of grief with the deteriorating, young boy. Webber fell to his knees as he allowed his leftover friends to succor him with his extreme emotions. After a while, he stopped. Made his way to the fire. Then sat down.

He couldn't believe that he had lost most of his friends, it felt so unreal. Some part of his mind was convinced that they were still out there. That they had somehow managed to survive the hounds, and were just taking refugee against the dark.

That couldn't be possible though, nothing could escape the beast. That thing was the embodiment of all that was terrifying, the darkness was part of it. And yet, he couldn't see his friends dead. It could have been a form of denial, he wasn't sure. Webber's eyes were filled with emptiness. The only thing he could do now was protect his current companions.

Webber clenched his fist with unnatural force. 'We won't let anything happen to anyone else. We swear on our life. The day that happens is also the day we die.'

Webber's thoughts were halted by the sound of clicking footsteps. At first, he thought that the sound was being made by Rooney and Fobia. Once he noticed that they were right beside him, he grew curious. The sound was being emitted beyond the scope of sight, towards the crimson engulfed dark. From the depths of the unforeseen void arose a familiar figure.

It was Raven, too much of Webber's bewilderment. Yet there stood the spider, which spotted Webber from a distance and turned around to holler a screech. Amongst the fiendish black pit of despair emerged three other spiders beside Raven. It was the whole crew.

Tears once again began to form between Webber's eyes, though these were tears of a better emotion. He gave chase to the group and threw his arms around the first spider that happened to be closest. Raven let out a groan of discomfort from the unexpected assault given by the young boy. The rest of the family engaged in their embraced form of bonding as five spiders joined in on the hug. This caused a great amount of pressure to Raven as the spider yelped in demanded fury against the group.

They began to break off the hug and Webber wiped away his remaining tears. Somewhere deep down, he had known that his friends were still alive, he just wasn't sure how. The spiders clearly navigated their way through the darkness, he would have thought that the beast would have engaged them. Yet they were safe. Was this night monster even real then? Was it only after Webber and nothing else? He couldn't really figure it out. But that was okay.

What mattered was that his family was safe.

 **Author's Note: Again, sorry I was late for this chapter. It's been like three weeks or so since the previous one but its still here. I also apologize for any grammatical errors that were found along the way. I just have been having a very busy schedule lately because of college and stuff. On the bright side, I'm passing my classes with A's so that's good. In more serious news, I actually almost died recently. I was applying an oil change on my car and forgot to set the emergency brakes on, when suddenly the jack tipped over causing my car to crush me. While I was crushed be my car only able to move my arm, three thoughts entered my head. The first was if my lungs were crushed which would mean that I was bleeding internally and die rather quickly. The second was the fact that I was going to die by being crushed from my own car, it just sounds really lame. The third was legit about this fanfiction and how I would never be able to finish it. And to those who did read it would never see it come to an end and probably decide that I have given up on it. When in reality, I actually died. That type of thought just hit me, you could never truly know when someone on the internet had passed away. Something to think about.**

 **On the brighter side, I am not dead and suffered from minor injuries. Thus the release of this new chapter. It was actually quite diffecult creating this chapter. And since I took so long, I made it extra long (didn't think it'd actually be this long to be honest). With this chapter exceeded over 8,000 words, the most out of all the chapters so far. That's pretty intense, now all I have to do is get over 9,000. Haha, no not funny. Okay well, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter because I have some great things planned for the future. I encouraged any reviews or feedback to help improve my writing. Cool, have an excellent day.**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: You don't know how hard I blushed from your gracious comments. I'm really glad your liking the direction the story is going and how Webber tends to bond with his friends. Webber could certainly be such a dork sometimes but he is precious and must be protected. I hope to keep you interested in the upcoming chapters ahead. I want to see if I could impact you on a strong emotional response with you know, feels. Take care you great person!**

 **Paramillo: I am glad you liked the way I explained the machine. Low key, it was quite difficult to come up with a viable form of explanation of that contraption but I like the sort of concept that went with it. I hope to interest you with the other things I have planned and how I try to bring in the alchemy engine while making it make sense somehow. Hope to keep you engaged with the chapters and thx for the comment about college. It's really busy but I'm doing really well in my courses. Take care!**


	5. Chapter 5: Unexplored Land

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

 **Remember when I said that I would release a chapter every week or two. Such naive dreams. Anyway enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 5: Unexplored Land

The sun was rising from the horizon, providing vivid orange gleams to light and sustenance throughout the island. The surrounding nature seemed to be given life anew as sunlight restored depth and visibility to the island.

Not too off the ocean shore was Webber and his spiders, in the campsite they named their formal home. The spiders lay scrounged around, still visible fatigued and sleeping with no concern for the new found sunshine.

Webber, on the other hand, looked the most tiresome. He didn't really sleep much the prior night; his mind would not allow it. Instead, he spent most of the night searching for valuable information from the science machine.

It was terrible exhausting on the boy's mind to navigate through the intense set of information. Oddly enough, there was very little data for means of survival. It seemed pointless after a while; there was nothing new that he didn't know before. That is until his mind found an extraordinary piece of information. He heavily focused on remembering the description of this new device for the rest of the night. The alchemy engine.

"The sun is up," Webber commented. He then gazed at his spiders that were slowly awakening from their slumber. "We think there's enough food to have some breakfast," he tiredly commented.

Webber made his way to the chest that contained food. There were three rabbit morsels from the previous day, followed by multiple berries, nuts, and a single carrot. He fixated on making meatballs for the tribe of spiders, though they would have to share the meal thoroughly to feed everyone. Therefore he objectively prepared the ingredients for the crock pot and allowed the meal to slowly cook.

Next, Webber walked to the area in which his tools lay assembled across the ground. With one hand, he grabbed hold of the ax and went to the nearest, full-grown tree. Without much hesitation, he began thrusting the razor-sharp tool against the pine tree.

He struck the tree with fast, heavy jabs. After every hit, he recomposed his breath, position, grip, and aim. Webber concluded that this was the most efficient way for him to chop down many trees without much physical exhaustion.

The loud noises emitted from the labor of the child gradually woke up the dormant arachnids that were sprawled near the fire pit. That, along with the increasing aroma of food that filled up the air. The spiders lazily made their way near the crock pot that appeared to be cooking today's morning meal. They gazed upon the crock pot with keen faces.

That is until a loud crash was heard not too far from their position. Just a distance away stood Webber who had successfully chopped down the tree. The spiders then hurried to his presence, all eager to greet their abnormally large friend.

"Hey guys," he stated with a worn-out expression. "How'd you guys sleep?" Rooney was the first to answer Webber with an innervated screech. Muffet lunged on top of him to feel his warm presence. "Hey stop, cut it out." He said with a playful simile.

The large spider's weight was too much for the tiresome boy who fell down to the ground, the remaining spiders surrounding Webber and engulfed him in a furry embrace. Calamity, for one, was softly chewing on one of his legs while Fobia just liked to be snuggled up to the boy.

"Alright, haha." He managed to let out. "Stop, no more. Ha…It's time to get serious." He replied trying to compose his laughter. The spiders, in response, slowly gave the boy some personal space.

"Finally, ahem, well first things first." He started. "Food's going to be ready in a bit, there should be plenty for all of us for the day, well for the morning at least." Webber rubbed his eyes with his hand and let out a yawn. "We hope to chop at least one more tree before heading out," he stated softly.

Faven gave a quizzical look at the statement from the boy, he gently nudged Webber and then gave another look. "Oh, right. We meant to say that we're all gonna go on a trip to somewhere new, thought I mentioned that." He said with a slight giggle.

"The thing is, we need to find some things." He tried to explain. "To be more specific, we need gold if we're gonna build that machine." Now all of the spiders gave Webber a confused expression.

"Look, it's just something that can help us a lot if we make it." He replied while placing his fingers over his eyes. "There isn't any gold left in the areas that we have been in, so we'll have to go out and find some elsewhere." He said with disdain.

"Technically, we also need more rocks for cut stone but that shouldn't be a problem if we find gold." Webber stated almost pondering to himself. "That should be all we need, then we'll just follow the instructions to build those electrical doodads.

Though, we should probably start with the boards since we're more familiar with those. Making the cut stone shouldn't be too hard either. The hardest part will probably be building the ma-" Webber stopped talking when Raven let out a wail due to his consistent chatter. "You're right, Raven. Actions speak louder than words."

With that, Webber set out to finish chopping the tree into suitable sized logs for later use. His spiders rolled the logs to the pile after he was finished, which gave him time to prepare their meals.

Webber equally portioned the meatballs accordingly, leaving Muffet with the most. He grabbed one for himself, the meatballs were as big as a tennis ball. Even so, he stuffed the whole thing inside his mouth and then grabbed hold of his ax.

Struggling to chew the meatball, he walked towards another full grown tree. Rooney noticed Webber hacking away at another tree and decided to approach the boy.

Rooney sat near Webber and let out small cries to get his attention. Webber halted his work and turned his gaze to the concerned little spider.

"Uuttss up, oooney." He managed to say with large chunks of meatball still in his mouth. Rooney let out a distressed cry before nudging Webber at his feet.

"Eey," he said before he stopped himself. He faced away from the spider and began to viciously chew his food in an attempt to swallow it. After a few moment of hard gnashing of teeth, he was able to hastily swallow the meat.

"That's better," he said while returning to face Rooney, "Hey, don't worry 'bout us okay. We could eat and chop just fine." Webber stated with slight positivity. "Now, go and finish your meal along with the others okay. We'll only be just a minute."

Thus Rooney slowly made his way back to the spider's leftover meal, still slightly unconvinced of the boy's wellbeing.

The spiders were able to finish their meals a lot faster than cutting down the tree. After their meals, they all huddled close to Webber as he finished cutting down the tree. He fine tuned the wood and let the spiders roll it over to the pile that held a great number of logs.

While they rolled the logs, Webber shoveled out the stumps of the trees that had just fallen. Then, he proceeded to prepare the bags that he would be taking on their trip. Webber emptied out any resources and fitted them to the chests. Any seeds that they found along the way were planted immediately in their farm.

"Hey Muffet, could you come here a sec." Webber called out. The overgrown spider happily made its way to him. Once Muffet was in arms distance, Webber began to strap on one of the empty backpacks onto the spider.

"Since you're the strongest in the group, we're gonna need you to carry one of these for us. Think you could handle it." The large spider screeched in confidence. "Thanks we knew we could count on you," Webber said as he began to pet the arachnid. Webber latched the other backpack onto him and grabbed hold of his spear.

"Alright gang," he said loudly. "It's 'bout time we head out, follow me."

Webber started treading away from the camp and towards the direction of the brick path. As he marched away, the spiders began to follow him in the same direction.

Webber spent a great deal of time pondering area would be best to search in. Below his campsite was the frightful graveyard in which he definitely didn't want to revisit. To the left of the campsite was a small area of forest before cutting off to the expansive ocean.

The right side of the campsite is where they were heading to right now, the brick path. Webber could have picked the north side of his campsite but since the ocean seemed to cut off the left side of that area, he felt that it would just lead to the savannah. There could be still be unexplored areas beyond or around the savannah, but that would take up too much time.

That is why Webber felt it would be best to travel east and pass the brick path without following one of the sides. He really didn't want to follow the right side of the brick path since his encounter with the strange, pig creature. No point going back there.

The only concern Webber has when proceeding east through the brick path is if it is still too close to the pig area. In his entire time on this island, the most foreign area is that side of the island.

Webber is pretty sure they too have a place where they can seek some formal shelter since he remembers that they hate the dark. The problem is where they set their home. It could be that the area they were about to explore is the native land for dozens of pigs.

Webber didn't want to risk the lives of any of his spiders, especially after what nearly happened last night. In the case of a pig visual, Webber decided that they would retreat in the opposite direction and hopefully still be able to find gold.

Webber and company managed to finally arrive by the brick path, this was it. "Okay, everybody." He started. "Just continue to follow me and holler if you spot the rocks with gold streaks on them, Raven or Rooney should be able to help describe what we're looking for." The spiders then engaged in conversation to further clarify their master's wishes.

After they finished, they all turned to Webber for more guidance. Webber then met the spiders at eye level by placing one of his knees on the ground and urged them to come closer. "Remember, we don't know what we're gonna find." He began.

"There might be a chance of spotting a giant pig. Don't ask me how we know this, just trust me." He remarked. "We know that it might be tempting to go after it since it would probably be delicious to eat," he said in a matter of fact tone, "but don't. They could be quite tuff to face, plus it seems that they hate spiders." Webber said recalling the incident with the pig.

After a few moments of silence, the spiders had slight conversation amongst themselves. Calamity seemed to be having the most trouble accepting these restrictions.

After multiple responses from Raven, it seemed that Calamity caved in bitterly. They all turned to meet Webber's gaze and gave an affirmative response, though Calamity's screech was a bit weak.

Webber took a few steps towards Calamity. Kneeled down, then said, "We're serious, please don't go after the pig." Webber's voice became a little bit more rigid and rough, "Ple-ehemm, please." He said softly. Guilt singed Calamity as the spider gave a more confident screech to assure the young boy. "Thank you," he gently replied.

Webber then proceeded to make his way towards the unexplored area with all his friends behind him. As they walked, Webber picked any berries that were found along with a flint or two down the road.

After just a few minutes, the surrounding area began to change to a different terrain. The tree infested forest was now large grassland with a couple of pine trees but filled with various resources. The land had many berry bushes spread around, tiny saplings for sticks, and grass tufts.

Even so, Webber only picked the berries off the bushes and stashed away any carrot he could lay his hands on. Webber also picked some flowers that were growing to help ease his tensions.

After some time traveling eastward, the party stumbled upon another brick path. One traveled towards the north while the other seemed to curve towards southeast.

"Well, this should make things easier." Webber said with slight enthusiasm. "There's no way we're getting lost now."

After some time to think Webber said, "We think it would be better taking the left path." He concluded considering he feared pigs might reside on the south side. From that point, the party continued to follow the path advancing north.

The voyage was quite peaceful until Faven rushed in front of the group and turned to face them. Faven then let out a small screech as if signifying that something was nearby.

The spiders formed their predatory positions as Webber slightly hunched over and readied his weapon. A noise was heard, just a couple yards away. There weren't many trees to cover their presence, therefore the entire group was spotted. A couple yards away stood a turkey, next to a depleted bush.

Webber let out a sigh of relief as his spiders began to ensnare their acquired target. The turkey, having seen a large group of spiders making their way towards itself, began to flee. In bitter haste, the gang of spiders began to chase after it.

"Wait, guys stop!" Webber declared. At the sound of Webber's voice, Rooney and Fobia ceased their chase while the rest continued on their pursuit. It didn't seem that all of his spiders have heard him as they continued to run after the turkey that fled in the opposite direction of their initial course.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed. "Come on, follow me." Webber went after the wild party with the spiders that halted with his command. He needed to stop them before they entered the area that could be potentially infested with pigs, hopefully they could manage to catch the turkey before then.

With this in mind, Webber sprinted towards the group with enhanced speed, quickly leaving Rooney and Fobia behind. The brick path made it fairly easier to catch up with the spiders that were still after the turkey.

In the distance, Webber saw something totally strange. It seemed that the terrain was different down the road, Webber could only make up strange purple terrain from his standing point.

Whatever it was, he didn't want his friends to just waltz right into the area chasing around a turkey. Therefore, Webber ran furiously to catch up to his companions. By the time he managed to cut them off, they were just a few feet away from the peculiar terrain.

All spiders stopped their assault to observe Webber as the turkey made its decent upon the foreign land.

Webber gave himself a few moments to catch his breath. Rooney and Fobia managed to catch up with the rest of the group during the time Webber began to recover his composure. Webber then took a deep breath and said, "Didn't you guys hear me, we told all of you to stop?" The spiders returned confused looks to the boy as he sighed with frustration.

Of course they didn't hear him, why else did they chase the bird all the way over here. Speaking of such, what exactly is the place the stupid thing fled to?

Webber turned around to analyze the strange expanse. The ground was a muddy purple hue that seemed to be a few deep. The area was heavily dark with strange weeds growing high out of the apparent mud like substance.

There were also strange like trees that were several feet tall, but had no form of greenery whatsoever. It was just hard wood with deadly looking spikes covering the entire tree top to bottom, their also appeared to be entangled spiked bushes growing out of the ground. The newfound area didn't seem appealing to the eyes of Webber at all.

"No way!" he yelped. "That place just doesn't sit well with me, let's go." He declared. As Webber started heading to the other direction, following the brick path that led them here, he was halted.

Muffet had stepped forward and let out a screech to the boy, it seemed Muffet still wanted to pursue the turkey.

"Muffet, we know how much you want this. In fact, it would've been pretty convenient to catch that dumb bird when we had the chance." Webber stated and then paused for a bit. "It's just, look at that." He said while pointing toward the direction of appalling stretch.

"There's just too much we don't know about this land, this whole island." He paused slightly again. "We just want to take things one step at a time…just to be safe." He finished.

Muffet along with the other spiders seemed to ponder Webber's thoughts for a long time. It was strange for them to want to pass up any opportunity for food, it went against their natural instincts.

Webber's plea against the hunt was definitely convincing to them. However, Muffet felt caving in to the unknown would not help them. In the mind of that spider, Muffet viewed itself as a dominant hunter that had the strength to take on almost anything that came its way.

As a result, Muffet stood still and didn't move. Muffet stood tall and let out a cry of persistence that seemed to influence some of the others as Calamity joined the protest.

Webber was taken aback a little, this was the first time that the spiders neglected to able one of his commands. It made him think, was he in the wrong here.

Has this island made him paranoid, did it really influence him to the point of neglecting the will of his friends? Even so, he couldn't help but feel hectic about this swamp looking area. He needed to find some sort of compromise.

Webber allowed some time to think of a solution before speaking again, "Alright, how about this then." He began. "Since you're so keen on hunting the stupid bird down, allow me to scope out the place first." He reasoned.

"There could be a chance that the turkey even escaped for all we know. Besides, this way we could see if there really is any danger around here." Not to offend you, but we are a lot faster at moving around so it really shouldn't be a problem if they even is any danger cuz we'll just run away." He declared.

Muffet seemed to take in all of Webber's speech. After the spider was silent for several minutes, Webber began to tense up.

It was when Raven started screeching at Muffet that the silence was broken. The two broke off in a frenzy of cries and wails before Webber noticed that Muffet had a very distraught look. Muffet kept eyeing Webber around his shoulder where his wound was still recovering from the previous day.

"Ha!" he shouted. "Now look who's worried ya big fuzball. But you don't have to be, we're pretty good at running away." He sweetly said. "After all, you should know. When's the last time you ever caught me, if we remember correctly it was zero times." Webber gloated.

The comment left Muffet with a very disdainful expression, as Rooney and Raven began snickering away at Muffet's mockery.

"But seriously," Webber began, "Trust me when we say that we'll be fine." Webber said trying to sound reassuring. Muffet then stood still for a few moments before lunging at Webber in a deep embrace, in which Webber extended open arms to welcome the giant, cuddly arachnid. The rest of the spiders joined in and huddled close to the young boy. After a few more moments, Webber deprived himself from his gang of misfits and decided he better get going before they lose any more daylight.

"Alright, we'll be back in a bit. Don't run off anywhere before we come back okay." He said before making his way towards the marsh land.

…

After just a few minutes of walking down the path, Webber regretted letting Muffet convince him of entering such a foul place. Even with the brick path, the muddy earth soaked his feet terrible which only made his circumstance worse considering he isn't wearing any shoes.

The air was infected with a horrid stench that makes manure more pleasant to be around with. Strange bubbles seemed to be rising from the icky surface ground in a few places which led him to believe that toxins may be rising out of the hazardous mud. But worse of all, he could hear noises from all around. Try as he might, he couldn't exactly extinguish where they were coming from but only confirm that there are in fact, noises.

These outcries and squawking repeatedly vibrated through his eardrums in an indirect pattern, yet nothing was seen through the area. It was driving him mad, the swamp was toying with him and it was working. Then Webber saw something that shifted his concentration.

Across the brick path and onto the malicious, antipodal tuff just a few feet away lay a dead carcass. To be more specific, it was the body of the turkey that he decided to tail. Its feathers were soaked in the engrossed muck, and its feet were bent in a hideous curve. On the side of the turkey lay a very large, open gash. One of its wings was torn off.

Something had definitely killed the poor bird, but there was something bugging the boy about this certain incident.

Why didn't the creature eat its kill? To his knowledge, animals have always killed for a common purpose, to feed. If that's the case, why is the carcass of a brutalized bird still present with no predator in sight? Are there really creatures out there that kill simply for kicks? For no apparent reason? The sheer thought of such an awful creature lurking about sent chills down Webber's spine, along with nauseating pains in his stomach.

Webber gave himself some time to restore his state of mind before deciding to take the turkey for rations. Where ever the predator was, it was gone for now. Webber just wanted to take the bird and leave which is why he quickened his actions.

Webber stepped onto the grisly sludge to approach the carcass in the distance. After being within arms reach, he thrust both his hands to grab a firm hold of the body. Once the carcass was lifted, Webber noticed the rising bubbles that were being hidden begin the bird.

Out form the abhorrent ooze sprang a long, thick, purple tentacle. The dreadful appendage appeared to be several feet long, it was colored in a purple tinge with small, yellow spots all around it. At the very tip of the monstrosity were very sharp spikes that looked as if they could behead anyone within reach.

Webber's instincts spiked when he saw the tentacle aim straight at him. He dove away and tossed the carcass away from the atrocious appendage to a spot where he may reach it in the future. Webber regretted using some of his energy to safe keep the morsel the instant he threw it. The tentacle managed to slice away at his forearm, just landing the tip of its deadly spike against his skin.

In a state of panic, Webber hastily made his way as far away as he could possible get from the tentacle as to avoid its next attack. He was correct in doing so since the appendage appeared to have a greater reach than he initially thought. The ominous monstrosity wiggled back and forth, ravishing at the thought of its escaped victim. Webber stood dazed as he witnessed the tentacle violently whip back and forth before sinking back into the corrosive slime.

After a few moments of heavy breathing, Webber stood himself up. His forearm had a slight gash that managed to break the first couple layers of his skin. Thank goodness, it wasn't too deep.

Webber grabbed hold of the morsel that he foolishly risked his life for and cleaned the meat before storing it into his bag. He then cut some of the strange weeds and fabricated it around his wound to stop the bleeding. After that, he made his way back to his friends that were patiently waiting for his safe return.

As he was returning back to safe grassland, Webber decided that watching the bubbles from the ground became his most hated thing about the swamp.

…

The spiders were seen frolicking around the area he had left them. Webber became rejuvenated with joy as ran in their direction. Rooney was the first to notice Webber happily trotting back from his little voyage. The spiders raced over to greet the boy and they embraced in his warm, fuzzy skin.

"Alright, there's no time to lose. We need to hurry and find some gold before it gets dark," he said so the spiders could confide. After their little embrace, Calamity and Muffet screeched before giving looks of doubt.

"Oh, that's right. You want to know what happened with the dumb bird, huh." Webber kneed down to drop his backpack and search its contents. But before Webber could show the gang ingredients for their meal of the night, Rooney hopped onto his lap while staring at his distinct wound.

Soon the rest of the spiders took notice of the poorly wrapped, paper like material that was stained with red. The look on their faces drastically changed from ignorant cheerfulness to dreadful grievance.

"Hey, hey. It's okay, we're fine. Just a little scratch." He tried reassuring his friends. Webber really didn't want to bring down the mood to a depressing one, considering he almost had his arm severed off. "We told you it was dangerous in there, didn't we Muffet. There's some crazy creature living there that we don't plan on seeing very soon, at all." He said while making contact with the immense arachnid. Muffet almost appeared to be crying as the spider bathed in its own guilt riddled mind.

"Hey now, don't be sad." He said forcing his tears back. "We learn from our mistakes, that's what my dad always told me." He added. "Now come on you lousy bugs, we still have work to do."

Webber stood himself up before heading down the path of their original route. The spiders that surrounded the little boy followed him close by.

After treading the path for at least ten minutes, Webber spotted a different terrain once more. At first, Webber seemed frustrated at another biome prone to new dangers and detestable creatures. However, this one felt different. For one, there seemed to be a vast amount of boulders scattered around the area. This brought great hopes for the young spider boy, certainly a change of directions from their previous incident.

As they made their way closer to the land, they noticed that the ground was a solid stone layer. Cracks waved around in the ground that decorated the biome with a zigzag pattern. There was a lot of open space which made it fairly easy to spot objects at a distance. Of course, the best part of this particular area were the mass of boulders spread around, even the gold streaked ones.

Webber pulled out his pickax started hacking at the nearest one, only two pieces of gold were needed to complete his machine. But since they came all this way and encountered some problems along the way, Webber decided to stock up on his mineral resources. This included rocks, flint, gold, and even the useless nitre. After an hour or two of mining, dusk reeled in its despicable presence.

"That's our cue," Webber said quietly as he fitted the backpack for Muffet to carry. "You think you could handle all this weight, Muffet." The spider screeched in confirmation. "Then let's start heading back."

…

Webber and his spiders were able to head back to camp in less than half an hour. From there, Webber laid down his resources and lit the fire. He helped Muffet out of the backpack and started to prepare the next meal. Webber was cooking the morsel into meatballs when he realized that they forgot an important task.

"We didn't check the rabbit traps, crap!" he exclaimed. "Now we'll have no breakfast for tomorrow, how could we be so stupid?" He stated to himself. "We'll just have to check the traps early tomorrow morning." He concluded while rubbing his eyes. Rooney stood beside him as Webber cooked their meal and thought out loud. "Well, we better get to work if we want that machine up and running."

Webber stood himself up and made his way to the chests that held all the materials that needed to be refined. Rooney let out a wail to catch Webber's attention, in which Webber bent down to his level. "What's wrong Rooney?" he questioned.

The spider let out another wail before circling around to sit itself down, Rooney then closed its eyes. "You're going to sleep, okay then." Rooney then got up and started nodding its head, the spider then made its way towards Webber and starting nudging the little boy at his feet.

Rooney then continued the same motion before sitting itself down and nodding off. The spider then looked up at the boy for confirmation of understanding from Webber.

"Are you telling me to go to sleep?" Webber asked. The small spider screeched in agreement. "That makes no sense, we haven't even eaten yet. Plus there's a ton of work we have to finish. Are you just saying this to have more helpings," he teased. The spider shook its head once more. "Look, don't worry. We'll be fine, the machine won't take too long to build anyway."

With that said, Webber began refining the materials needed for the contraction that going to be set next to his science machine and lightning rod. He managed to refine the necessary boards just before the meatballs became ready to eat. Webber stopped his work to attend to the hungry spiders that longed for his attention.

Once the spiders and he finished their meal, night once again enveloped the surrounding area. It hungrily ate away at the lighted areas all throughout the island, leaving the light the fire pit emitted the only source available. How Webber hated the dark? That didn't matter though, he had work to complete.

Webber placed more logs beside the fireplace to enhance its light radius and prolong its life for the entire night. Muffet huddled close to the fire and seemed to drift peacefully asleep. Calamity was next, followed by Faven, Fobia, Raven. Webber merely worked on refining the cut stone next, alongside him was Rooney.

After some time, Webber finished the cut stone and let out a yawn. "Almost done, just need to figure out how to craft these electrical doodads." He said with a tiresome tone. Webber was just relieved that the light was bright enough to reach the area by the science machine. Rooney let out a wail and nudged Webber on his side. "Just a bit more," was all that Webber said.

After twenty minutes, Webber was able to construct the first electrical doodad. "There, you see. Just one more *yawn*." He blurted as he stretched out his arms. This time Rooney jumped on top of the boy which caused Webber to fall on the ground. The spider then grabbed hold of Webber by his feet and slowly pulled him towards the fire pit.

"What are you doing Rooney?" He softly complained. "We need to-" Webber had trouble finishing the rest of the sentence. "Gots to-" he said sloppily. Rooney then made its way closer to the boy and huddled close to Webber in a sleeping position. "Have to sleep…"

 **Author's Note: I really want to apologize for a lot of things right now. First, sorry this chapter came out really late. It's been a little more than a month now and I haven't been more disappointed with myself. College was extremely busy over the past few weeks, especially with finals. On the brighter side of news, I think I aced most of my classes so yay for me, I guess. I tried to work on this after finals but I get extremely busy during the holidays. Not a day went by when I didn't think of this fanfiction. The next thing I want to apologize for is the quality of this chapter. I didn't really have time considering Christmas is just around the corner, but I thought I don't need sleep. I'll just work on this all night. Really bad idea, there are some scenes that I liked from this chapter but I overall was disappointed with myself. I tried to edit it as best I could but it's 6 in the morning and I've been up since 10 at night. Sooooo, sorry for a inadequate chapter. Also, I apologize for the crap load of grammatical errors that will probably be present in this one. I really hope to make this up in the next chapter. Next one should be really good. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this spiteful chapter. Happy holidays!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: I really want to thank you in my support of making this fanfiction. Like seriously, people like you make me want to write as best as I can. Though I'm not sure how you liked this chapter, I really don't like it too much myself. But I really appreciate your support. Also, I checked that you made a Don't Starve fanfiction right away and thought "I'm going to read this. Nothing is going to stop me." Then I saw you included Webber in the story and I thought. "Nothing is going to stop me from reading that story after I finish my own." Its just I don't want to feed off anyone's ideas, I want to make my story as genuine as possible. But I will read it, eventually. Thanks so much for support once more, happy holidays! (I celebrate christmas but some people don't, so I say happy holidays)**

 **Paramillo: Being under the car was very unpleasant, I had a huge headache after all that. Anyway, I was really glad to hear that you were hooked to my story, shows that I'm doing something right. Sorry about this chapter, I really wanted it to turn out better than it did. It's just a little frustrating that it didn't. Also, school may be important, which is why I focused on finals a lot. But I am really invested into trying to create this story as best as I can. Trust when I say I will not rush the next chapter like I feel I did with this one. Thanks for all of your support though, I really appreciate it. I hope that the story continues to interest you as time goes by, thx for everything. Happy Holidays!**

 **Side Note: Totally forgot something. You see, a lot of things could happen in a month and trust me when I say a lot of things have happened. But something that I want to say is that I was considering writing a fnaf (five nights at freddys) fanfiction. This idea has always been in my mind from the very begginning so its not like I suddenly want to write a story of it out of the blue. The thing is, the lore is so deep it could be quite confusing writing a coherent story about it. But something recently happened that could finalize my decision on creating a story. That is the release of the fnaf novel that was released not too long ago. I plan on buying a paperback copy and reading it, that story will definitely decide my decision. Just wanted to throw that out there, mer- I mean Happy Holidays!**


	6. Chapter 6: To be a Hunter

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

 **It has been a while, hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 6: To be a Hunter

The sun was out, light embraced the confined island revealing its expanse of trees and natural growth. The sunlight provided pleasant warmth for the fauna that inhabited the land.

Beefalo huddled together in herds while birds ascended from their nests to gather nourishment. As the sun shined down upon the wildlife signaling them all to arise from their slumber, one being failed to do so.

A small child lay on the ground on a poorly makeshift bed, made out of grass. Huddled close to the spider-like boy was a large spider. Near him were various other spiders sleeping soundly without any worry or concern.

The handcrafted shelter provided excellent shade from the sun's rays. The boy's eyes slowly widened from their drowsy state, he gained a brief amount of consciousness before deciding to indulge in more sleep.

Time slipped ahead as the sun made its way across the sky. The island still busy with activity as the group of arachnids rested in great comfort. After some time, one of the spiders finally awoke.

Raven crawled away from the others, stretching its limbs after reaching the full rays of the sun. The spider turned around, and set its sights on the remaining spiders. The spider seemed to reflect on what to do as the others were busy dozing off. Raven decided to sit still and wait them out.

After a few minutes, Raven grew heavily impatient from the lack of movement and change. As a result, Raven began to nudge Faven in order to wake the spider. Raven's actions stirred the rest of the spiders that were huddled up next to Faven, causing them all to wake. They all lazily rose from their positions, all except Calamity who seemed rejuvenated after the nights rest.

The spiders as a group then began to converse lightly amongst themselves before realizing that Webber and Rooney were still asleep.

In a form of haste, Calamity and Muffet raced to wake up their abnormally big companion. Webber was forcefully awoken by the pestering of large spiders. Calamity and Muffet both pounced on the spider boy and continuously nudged him with their bodies.

Webber's distressed eyes flew wide open as he tried to counter the actions of the spiders.

Rooney flinched wide awake as one of the spiders landed a tackle while they were in the midst of harassing Webber. The boy laughed lightly as he pushed away the spiders in an attempt to stand himself up.

Webber then rubbed his eyes furiously to wipe away the eye grit that accumulated after sleeping for so long. After a few moments, Webber was able to retain his consciousness.

"Aww man, we didn't finish the alchemy engine." Webber worriedly stated. He turned his gaze to see the materials that he was working on. Next to the science machine were four wooden boards, three pieces of cut stone, two gold nuggets, and one electrical doodad.

"Forget finishing the thing, we didn't even start it." He said a little irritated. "And we still need to make one more electrical doodad before we could even start building this thing." Webber said with a sigh.

Fobia walked up to the distraught boy and let out a small screech. Webber looked upon the small spider. Fobia appeared to be concerned for him, Webber relaxed a bit more.

"Don't worry Fobia, it's just a minor setback." He began. "We just wanted the machine to be built by now. The faster we get it done, the better our lives will be." He calmly said. "Why don't you all run around for a bit while we get to work?" Webber asked.

The spiders appeared to adhere to his words as they began to scatter and frolic in the nearby area. Though, two spiders stood waiting patiently to gather their friend's attention as he made his way to the science machine.

Rooney and Raven were near Webber as he began to steadily work on the second electrical doodad. Raven sat still and enjoyed the summer warmth while Rooney seemed fascinated with the work that Webber was conducting.

"Hey Rooney," Webber spoke as he was refining the material in which Rooney turned to meet his face. Webber let out a deep breath before speaking again, "We just want to thank you for the other day, for dragging us by the fire pit when we dozed off." He said nonchalantly.

"We were really tired last night, even though we wished this machine would have been built already. We're kind of glad that we got some sleep." He said with a slight smile. "It's been a while since we slept that good," Webber chuckled a bit, "each night we're usually panicked or in fear." He stopped talking for a bit.

"But that night was different, we're not sure why…we just know that it was one of the best nights we slept on our time living on this island." He concluded. Webber looked down for a bit, his eyes then shifted to Rooney with a more serious facial expression. "Thanks for that," he said softly, "really, thanks. We're really glad to have such great friends." Rooney then huddled close to the boy while letting out a low groan.

In the spur of the moment, Raven slowly advanced to the boy while its eyes were meeting the ground. Webber noticed the spider and in response opened up his arms so the spiders could embrace him with a hug. Both of them slowly huddled close to the boy and cuddled for a long, enduring amount of time. Once the time passed, Webber once again began to refine the remaining component.

After several more minutes, the last electrical doodad had been completed. "There we go, all the materials are done now." Webber pointed out. "Now all we got to do is follow the instructions from the science machine and it'll be built in no time. We'll be able to live with ease with the stuff we'll be able to make with this machine." Webber said enthusiastically.

A small growl was heard from Webber's lower abdomen, purring ever so slightly.

"Wow, we almost forgot about eating some breakfast." He said slightly noticing his hunger. "How 'bout you guys, you hungry?" he asked his spiders. Raven and Rooney screeched excitedly in response.

"We would bet, you guys are always hungry. Let's go see what the others are up too, and then we'll whip us up something to eat. Sound good," Webber said cheerfully. Both spiders hollered excitedly before walking along Webber.

Webber spotted the rest of the group in little to no time. They seemed to be in their usual place whenever they weren't following him around.

A little distance away from the fire pit stood the phenomenal spider nest standing at least seven feet tall in height. Calamity, Faven, and Muffet seemed to be immersed in a game of sorts and were using the silky terrain as a boundary. Fobia was huddled close to the spider nest, clearly enjoying its domestic comfort.

As Webber walked closer to the colossal den of silky mass, he couldn't help but ponder of its greatness. The nest was like a sanctuary, a resting place that provided warmth and comfort to all of its descendants.

Webber remembered the day after lightning dominated the sky, and Webber barely managed make it out alive from the foul creature inhabiting the shadows. He was entirely terrified, even after daylight had made its way across the island.

Webber couldn't move from his spot for quite some time, Rooney and Raven had persistently tried to generate a reaction from the boy. Their constant attempts were met with failure as the rigid, young boy solemnly stood in place. It wasn't until Rooney had crawled towards the spider den that Webber regained his sense of consciousness.

Webber's eyes shifted in the direction of the arachnid, his gaze then met up with the monumental structure. For some time, the boy blandly stared at the imposing egg with a keen sense of bewilderment across his pupils.

Out of sheer instinct, Webber slightly moved towards the nest. Though he had hardly moved at all, his hand had twitched slightly. Webber was dumbfounded, his muscles weren't reacting to his commands at all.

Webber tried once more to move his body towards the silky den, this time he managed to move his legs a bit but not entirely. Webber grew a bit anxious, he couldn't find the ability to correctly swing his limbs. After more failed attempts to ache his arms forward, Webber was determined to crawl his way towards the nest. Or anywhere at all, just so he could freely move his body.

He prompted his body forward, in which his chest flew to the ground. He was now belly first on the ground desperately trying to crawl his way where Rooney stood. Raven seemed to be beside the spider boy, as he fought hard to inch his way closer to the destination.

Slowly, Webber began to gain better movements in his body and increased his pace. He was clearly determined to reach his destination, for reasons unknown to him. He just had to be there.

Finally he reached the center of the silky floor. He shakily propped up his body so that he may sit beside the fluffy spider den. The den was warm and soft on his black skinned fur. It emitted a sense of peace at the back of Webber's mind, slowly easing away at his stress and worries. He felt a radiance of bliss and contentment wash over his body, as if giving him newfound strength. For a while, if only for a second, he felt that he was at peace.

Webber was awoken from his reminiscence at the sound of his belly. His stomach growled loudly as to notify the beings necessity for nourishment.

'Now's not the time to daydream' he thought to himself. Even so, a modest grin was found on his face. After reestablishing himself with the present world, Webber called his spiders to gather around him. Rooney and Raven were already beside him, which left the remaining four stop what they were doing and assemble around the boy.

"Alright everyone, we'll start the day with some break-" Webber stopped speaking midsentence. 'Crap, we forgot that we have no meat.' He remembered. 'These guys won't eat any of the vegetables we've grown unless we mix them with meat.' Webber harshly thought.

The spiders eyed Webber curiously as his eyes had widened and he had stopped speaking. 'How could we forget something so important, food is the most essential means for survival.' Webber continued to notion. The spiders appeared confused at the strange hand gestures the boy started initiating out of the blue.

Fobia approached him and let out a wail which seemed to gain his attention. Little by little, Webber regained his composure. Finally, he took a deep, long breath in order to calm down his breathing.

"Thanks Fobia, sorry we freaked you out like that" he said calmly. Webber then faced the entire group once more and spoke, "Sorry, it's just that we remembered that we didn't check the rabbit traps the other day," he let out a sigh before continuing, "which means we have nothing to eat at the moment." The spiders didn't react to his comment, they seemed to already be aware of their situation.

"So our first priority will be to travel to the savannah and check those traps," he said with a form of conviction. "We're sure that you're all pretty hungry already, we know that we're just as hungry," Webber's stomach growled in affirmation. "So today, we want to dedicate all of our time to gathering meat," he said with persistence. The spiders all cheered in excitement. The thought of continuously hunting for food seemed to fill them with energy.

Webber took a good look at his friends in all their hysteria, then his eyes shifted towards the science machine. Beside it were all the materials that were required to build the alchemy engine he desperately wanted to complete. 'That's just going to have to wait' he thought to himself.

Webber turned once more to face his companions, "Come on guys, let's get ready to head out," he stated.

Webber carried one of his backpacks and strapped the other around Muffet. He also grabbed hold of his spear and then they all headed towards the brick path.

On their way, they stopped by the freshwater pond for a fresh drink of water. Even so, they mainly stopped for Webber's sake since the spiders didn't appear to have the necessity to drink any form of fluids. Webber assumed that they must be gaining all their essential fluids from the meat that they consumed. Of course, it was just his theory.

After some time, they arrived at the first brick path. By then, the entire group were feeling the effects of hunger expand throughout their gut. It wasn't the feeling of starvation, which usually involves great strife and poor malnutrition. They simply could feel their guts craving a form of sustenance.

From the brick path, they traveled left towards the savannah. The journey would be a long one, and seem much more so without any form of nourishment.

As time flew by, the hole in their gut grew ever so slightly, diminishing their strength and energy as they trotted down the path. Webber was questioning whether it would have been better to find a different means of meat for the time being. There was a bigger chance that the rabbit traps held an edible source of food, but traveling to the savannah region was long and tiresome.

'Maybe it would have been better to hunt some turkey or catcoon' he thought, spit balling ideas as they came to his head. 'No way, finding one of those things would take just as long as coming all the way over here.' Therefore, the group continued down the path.

After a large amount of time, they finally made it to their destination. Upon setting foot unto the savannah's grassy terrain they heard the sound of a beefalo in the distance. About a hundred yards away, there stood a large, beastly creature among several others of its brethren.

"Wonder how they taste like," Webber said out loud. This comment definitely gathered the attention of his spider friends who were eager to try some beefalo meat. "Oh no you guys don't. That was just the hunger getting to our head, we are not going after one of those beefalo." He said to much of the spiders sorrow. "Those things are really big and travel in a pack, it's just way too dangerous." He added.

Webber's stomach let out a heavy moan, which caused him to clutch his abdomen with a tinge of force. By now, the intensity of his appetite had increased to the point of heavily annoyance. It clawed at his insides with the heating ferocity of a small feral cat. He could also tell that the hunger was getting to the minds of his spiders as well. They seemed more agitated then usual and more willing to assault anything they could consider as food. No matter how docile an animal could be, or an insect in this case, the call for famine ran deep in the instincts of creatures.

"Come on, let's go check those traps already." Webber said with a hint of discomposure. The first to make its way to the traps was Calamity, the rest of the group followed suit.

For some reason, Calamity appeared to be more riled up when the spider was hungry. 'Calamity's probably impatient by now' Webber thought to himself. Webber then took a quick glance at all of his spiders to read their mental condition. He laughed a bit, out of all of them Fobia seemed the least affected by their current state.

"No surprise there," Webber said out loud with a smile. Rooney then met his gaze at the young boy and his strange cheerful behavior. "What's wrong Rooney, something bothering you?" Webber stated lightly. The spider gave no response but treaded ahead with a sense of content.

Webber and the others finally made it to the traps, Calamity was waiting and looked rather flustered. "Sorry to keep you waiting, hopefully this was worth the trip." Webber said as he glanced at Calamity.

Webber then shifted his eyesight to the four traps that were spread around the rabbit holes, none of them stirred. This put a sense of worry through the back of Webber's mind. 'What if we didn't catch anything? What would we do for food?' he thought. Webber made his way towards the closest trap, and gently lifted the opening to see the contents inside. All his spiders stiffened into a hunting position, as for any chance that the rabbit would escape. As Webber lifted the trap, he saw a fluffy creature huddled up in the corner. When Webber first glanced at it, he thought that the poor creature had been trapped in here for a long period of time and didn't have the energy to move very much.

That was when the rabbit dashed towards the exit of the trap and past Webber's legs. Webber was shocked, he let his guard down and the rabbit was able to slip by him with ease. The rabbit was soon faced with abnormally large spiders just a few feet away. In a desperate attempt, the rabbit tried to dash between the small gaps of space between the two abnormal arachnids. The rabbit was approaching both Faven and Raven as it perilously sought safety from its predators. Faven launched itself forward with quickened reflexes as Raven stood behind covering the route to the rabbits escape. As the rabbit tried to sidestep the spider's attack, Faven had skillfully applied its large teeth to the animal's torso, killing it instantly. Faven then laid the corpse onto the grassy terrain.

"Nice job Faven, that rabbit really got the best of us." Webber stated while gazing at the lifeless animal. Faven cheered lightly from his friend's appraisal.

Webber began to skin it and recover its edible material, they then checked the other traps. To much of their dismay, there was only one other rabbit found in the remaining traps. Two of them managed to get away somehow.

'This isn't good' Webber thought. 'We only have two morsels available. Should we travel all the way back to camp just to cook two measly morsels?' He gave himself a few moments. 'No, it would be bad to travel such a long distance with the lack of energy we have now. It would probably be best to eat what we have right now.' A sudden thought dawned on him. 'Crap, we don't have any means to cook any of this meat. We didn't pack an ax or any flint with us. We'll have to eat this stuff raw.' Webber gazed at the morsels now in his bag. 'It still beats eating nothing at all, but between all of us this would only salve our appetite. Maybe we could hunt some rabbits that are still around in this area.' Webber looked around the terrain to scout anymore rabbits that could be outside their homes. 'It's no good, the rabbits probably saw us kill their friends and scurried in their homes.' He concluded. Webber gave himself a few moments in deep thought to come up with the best solution. His spiders were patiently waiting for a response from their large friend.

"Alright, here's what were going to do." He started. "We're going to share what we have into equal portions. It's not much but we need the strength." He said lightly. "We're going to have to eat it raw though. Like the smart person we are, we didn't even think of bringing an ax or flint." The spiders listened, they didn't seem bothered of the thought of raw meat. "Next, we have to hunt prey. The best place we could think of is the habitat where we find catcoons." He continuously rambled. "Hopefully, we will also see some turkeys along the way. We are to hunt until dawn, we don't want to be anywhere else but in camp by the time night falls. Got it," he stated firmly. The spiders screeched in response.

Webber split the morsels into six equal portions for them all to eat. None of the spiders seemed to have a problem eating the meat, but Webber hesitated. After a few seconds, Webber propped the piece of meat into his mouth. It tasted slightly tasty to Webber's surprise, he became a little guilty that he actually enjoyed it a little bit. Even so, the taste was short and not entirely filling to his grumbling stomach.

'Was this really the best decision?' he thought to himself. 'They need a lot of meat in order to survive, a whole heaping surplus that turkeys and catcoons will never be able to provide.' His eyes then shifted to the direction of the beefalo. 'One whole beefalo should give them enough meat for a week, or even more.' Webber then shook his head slightly. 'It's not worth the risk, he wouldn't forgive himself if one of his friends were injured…or worse.' Webber shoved any doubting thoughts at the back of his head, then continued on.

The group trotted down the brick path once more, this time with a little bit more energy than before. On their way towards their destination, they listened intently for any sounds of prey. But to no avail, the forest was incredible silent. The only sounds that could be heard were their own footsteps along with the chirping of birds. Never had silence been so infuriating to the boy, normally this type of scenery would be peaceful or easygoing. But now it seemed to boil their patience, as each minute passed and nothing new occurred.

After some time they made it to the fork in the path, they had arrived close to their camp. More than an hour had seemed to pass and it felt like a few minutes for Webber, their time was dwindling by the second. They would only have a few more hours left before the sun would begin to drift over the horizon. Luckily, they were close to the catcoon infested area. They were sure to hunt down at least two if they were careful. The group then continued down the path towards the embodied terrain.

As Webber and the others continued to tread across the path, Faven crossed towards the earthy ground and in a different direction. "Faven, where are you going?" Webber called. "We still have a little more left to reach the catcoons nest." Faven didn't respond to him as the spider's eyes were focused on the ground. Faven then halted some distance away and let out a screech as if signaling to his comrades. Webber jogged slightly to his direction and his spiders followed him.

"Faven, there isn't enough time for gam-" Webber stopped midsentence as he gazed at the ground near Faven's position. Just a few inches away from Faven were tracked dirt, which appeared to be covering something. When the entire gang arrived near the spectacle, Faven began to unearth the dirt covering the specified area to reveal what looked like an enormous paw print.

"It's a track," Webber stated in bewilderment. The paw print was quite large and consisted of three stubbed toes. For there to be a track, there must have been an animal to create it. In this case, a very large animal. "You think it could be like a wild boar or something, wouldn't that be the best!" Webber happily exclaimed. Webber had heard of boars inhabiting islands before. Boars contained a great amount of meat and usually traveled by itself, this could be a great opportunity to solve their problem.

'Hold on Webber' he started thinking to himself. 'Nothing's really that simple, especially not on this island. It could be heavily dangerous, just like many of the animals we've already encountered here.' He reasoned. 'Plus, only some enormous animal could leave a track this big.' Webber cringed a bit. 'But we can't let this opportunity slide, we desperately need meat. This animal could probably feed us for the next few days.'

With a strong determination Webber said, "Let's go after it."

With a strong grip of his spear, Webber started to follow the direction the toes were pointing. The groups' steps were much more silent then before, careful not to alert anything that they were strolling by. After about twenty yards or so, Faven was able to spot another track pointing in another direction. They followed it until finding another track nearby, little by little they were closing in on the beast. The area where the tracks were being found seemed to head deeper into the deciduous forest. Webber crouched closer to the ground as to cover his visibility from any form of wondering animals. Muffet tensed up at the notice of facing a large beast, eager to test its might. Fobia stayed close beside the two of them. Faven kept focusing on spotting the tracks, a trait that Faven was shockingly skilled at. Track after track, they followed. Each track put a sense of hope and invigoration pulsing throughout Webber's body. His instincts were becoming sharper and his senses increased tenfold. Everything around him seemed to feel a lot clearer as if he knew the surroundings by heart. His eardrums could gracefully hear the slight steps of his friends along with the small breeze of wind.

The group stopped at the sound of a foreign creature, several yards away stood an enormous beast covered with a mass of fur and strong hide. The animal had a large round face with incredible huge ears. Four tusks seemed to be sticking out of the animal's forehead, two on the left side and an additional two on the right. Two more tusks were lodged out from under its mouth. The animal had a massive trunk that extended down unto the ground. Two large eyes were on its face, only they had no pupils. There were four stubby legs with three fat toes on each one. Its fur was coated in a beautiful gradient of beige and orange all around its body, even on its giant, fluffy ears. The animal resembled that of an elephant, except that its round face and soft eyes reminded Webber of an animal that he had seen before.

The animal was a thing of grace bestowed upon nature, Webber was awestricken by its natural beauty. Unlike many of the animals here, it didn't appear hostile and held an ambiance of exquisite calmness. The autumn breeze blew gently against its furry coat as the mammal strolled around the native area with a sense of serenity. This animal was clearly one of the better creatures that Webber had ever encountered upon this island.

Nevertheless, the animal was their prey. He couldn't let its beauty distract him from their objective. "We're sorry," he softly whispered as he held his spear with implied pressure and then gestured to his spiders to surround the animal. Silently his spiders began to creep around the ground and encase the giant beast.

The koalefant stiffened its ears at the sound of pestering feet on all sides. Its eyeballs shifted to scan the surrounding area, though nothing was seen. The koalefant figured it was alone, it proceeded to lift up one of its legs to forcefully stomp on the ground. From its foot, the koalefant marked a paw print onto the ground. The large beast then let out a loud, trumpeting wail. In which it turned around to cover its marking with dirt or leaves. Upon turning around, the koalefant noticed a large abnormal spider just a few yards away from the beast. The spider was crouched low to the ground and had its hands tightly gripped around a stick with a sharp protrusion at one end.

For a while, none of them moved. Though the koalefant knew what it'd do if the being decided to lunge straight at it. The koalefant were known for their incredible mass and speed that just didn't seem to match. The beast had evaded many predators in the past just by outmaneuvering it by speed alone. It took pride in its evasive skills enough to be able to outrun all sorts of creatures around the island. Of course, there were some animals that were just too fast to escape. In these cases, the koalefant was also skilled in close combat. Its tusks were especially sharp and could tear right through its attacker's abdomen. The koalefant's tough hide had also provided excellent defense from many hounds in the past as well. These facts gave the koalefant the confidence to face this foreign spider that was standing just a few feet away from it.

Even so, there was a slight sense of doubt biting at the back of the animals mind. Of all the foes the koalefant had faced beforehand, they all had a similar trait. They had attacked the koalefant as soon as they spotted it. This one was different, this creature was patiently waiting. The koalefant wasn't quite sure what was on its mind, was it waiting for something. The two beings stood there for a long time, none of them moved at all. This creature was uncommonly peculiar to the large mammal, it made the koalefant feel nervous. An emotion that never sat well in the mind of a prey, trying to escape an unfortunate fate.

Webber slowly rose from his lowered position and severely tightened his grip on the spear. He took a deep breath while closing his eyes and held them shut for a few moments. The koalefant's animal instincts screamed danger, the animal had the strange feeling of utter doom coming from the boy. The beast knew it had to flee, as far away from the being as possible. From all sides, the koalefant noticed figures lunge straight at the beast. Four spiders had snapped on the koalefant's feet, immobilizing the beast ability to move from its current position. Before the koalefant could react to the pain being rushed through his lower legs, Webber swiftly appeared in front of the beasts face. With incredibly fast motions, the boy pieced the koalefant through its throat with tremendous strength. The koalefant only had a few seconds of consciousness before enough blood entered its throat, killing it off.

Once the massive mammal stopped moving, the spiders pried their teeth off of the koalefant's feet. Webber was stroking the soft fur found at the top of the beast's head, almost as if petting the lifeless animal. 'Sorry it had to be this way' he thought solemnly.

Muffet strolled around the beast cheering loudly at its triumph over the enormous brute. Webber looked at the large spider enacting its victory dance over a successful hunt. Webber couldn't help but chuckle at Muffet, "You sure seem giddy even though you did nothing," he teased. Muffet shot him a look of annoyance before following up with a number of wails directed at the boy. "We're just kidding, haha." He said reassuring the spider. Muffet seemed more upset after realizing it really didn't do anything in the fray.

Calamity took full opportunity to gloat in the larger spider's face by standing on top of the koalefant's body while striking a pose of domination. Muffet then rushed towards Calamity and chased the smaller spider as it playfully ran away.

"Hey, we were just kidding Muffet. Your role was important too, you needed to stay back just in case things didn't go our way." Webber shouted trying to reassure the spider once more. Muffet didn't seem to pay attention as it continuously chased after Calamity. Webber then faced Raven, "So immature, are we right?" in which the spider wailed.

After a few moments, Webber called the attention of all of his companions, "Okay guys, it's time to hall our prize back to camp." This was something Webber wasn't particularly looking forward to, the animal must weigh at least a ton. Even so, Webber felt they would be able to slide it across the ground if they all pushed it as a group. Thus began the excruciating labor of carrying the koalefant back to camp.

…

The enemies were massed together and were now taking their haul someplace new. They proved to be absurdly dangerous, just a handful of them could best a mighty creature such as the koalefant. He had known, because he had seen it unfold with his own eyes. Yes, these beings were a force to be dealt with. It was his duty to follow them, it was his duty to find their home, and it was his duty to destroy them before they destroyed his kind.

…

 **Author's Note: Can't really believe it's been about a month since my latest update. Though I really did enjoy this chapter, it just felt right. That and the fact that I took my time with it. But besides that, I do have some things to say. For one, I started college again which is why I've been pretty busy lately. After attending my classes, I realized that I really dislike physics. It just doesn't really interest me the way my professor demonstrates it. Also, I might be getting a job soon because money is necessary to survive. Which leaves little time for me to work on this fanfiction. That really saddens me but it'll eventually be done.  
**

 **Enough of my personal life, I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Some notes I wanted to say about the length of this story and the plot it is heading towards. I really thought that this fanfiction would only be about twenty chapters long, but now that I wrote six chapters I see that it will probably be about double its initiated length. I feel that it will exceed over forty chapters since I really want to incorporate all the harsh seasons that the game has to offer. I also noticed that Don't Starve Shipwrecked edition came out, so this story might even have some strange sequel that incorporates that saga as well. I'm not really sure yet, I barely finished the sixth chapter.**

 **I'm also getting ready to introduce another character to the series in a couple chapters but that'll have to wait. I intended for the mention of any character to be a total surprise but its been a long time already, I'll just say that someone will meet Webber in the nearby future. The last thing I want to talk about is the length of this chapter itself. I originally intended chapter six to be over 10,000 words. (Trust me when I say that it would have been over that). But then I decided not to and split it into different chapters, the reason being that it felt way too long. I wasn't sure if my readers would be as willing to read 10,000 words in a single chapter. Though, I for one read hours upon hours in various books and other fanfictions so I could be wrong.**

 **I'd be great if you could comment whether you'd be interested in reading lengthy chapters or not, so that in the future my mind would be at ease when I write up a chapter of a million words. I'd also be cool if you could review the story itself, I'm always trying to improve my writing so I won't be offended no matter what you say. Or you could just have some questions over the story or how things might turn out. Or just say hello, that's cool too.**

 **Fun Fact: My cousin once followed this really lengthy story that was incredible long. It consisted of 500,000 words in who knows how many chapters. But he figured the author stopped working on it since it hadn't been updated in two years. Then one day the author uploaded a chapter of over 200,000 words.**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Well I hoped you enjoyed this chapter better than the previous one, since it is way better. Also, yea authors tend to notice their errors a lot in the stories they write, and I could understand that. But that's not entirely why I didn't really like my fifth chapter, I just felt that I could have heavily improved it. All except for the swamp scene, I actually liked that scene. Nevertheless, I'm glad you liked it even though I didn't. I'll take your advice and make sure not to rush anymore. I also want to say thanks for all the support you have provided over this story, it really helps. Oh, and if you do see something that you feel could be improved, please let me know. If anything, pm me. Coo, have a great day! /-_-\\\  
**

 **Paramillo: Yes, I'm excited. You said my chapter was great. Which means you care enough to lie to me because sometimes lying is better than telling the truth. I'm just joking, though I am deeply flattered that you thought is was good. And in a way you have a solid point, I guess I did work hard on it. But I should have worked harder! But thanks for the support, it really helps. As for my thoughts on the fnaf fanfic, I'm still not sure if I'm going to write it. I finished the novel and viewed many theories about the plot line and still didn't really find the means to a consistent story. It's coo though, I got plenty of time before I even think of a detailed synopsis. I am grateful that you would consider reading it though, it makes me happy you like my writing style. Even so, please tell me if anything could be improved or not. Send a pm if anything. Enjoy the days that are to come! (^-^)  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Hero

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

 **Geez I wanted to release this ealier. Oh well, enjoy!**

Chapter 7: Hero

After a large sum of manual labor, Webber and his group were finally able to haul in their quarry back to the campsite. Even with the short distance they had traveled, dragging the carcass across the ground burned a large sum of their time. And yet the sun still lingered across the sky, indicating a few more hours of daylight.

Once Webber was satisfied of the koalefant's location, he tiredly made his way to the shelter and collapsed. The boy was immensely fatigued and let out heavy groans as he tried to catch his breath. His spiders too were wearied out, and sought relaxation from their diligent endeavor.

Webber took it upon himself to observe his spiders as they tried to form their own sense of relief. Fobia was huddled close to Webber and managed to climb on top of his head as he sat down on the ground. The small spider tickled the top of his head as Fobia occasionally shifted its legs. Since the spider was the smallest, it didn't really bother Webber with its weight.

Muffet and Calamity were beside the Koalefant, with their legs sprawled across the floor. Neither of them seemed to want to move from their current position.

The rest of the gang were beside the spider den and were resting soundly. The spiders had their eyes closed and gave out small little breaths. The sight made Webber feel sweet inside, a sense of gratitude.

Webber's weariness died down little by little as he relaxed there in the shade. It was then that the boy noticed a barren sensation deep within his intestines. He no longer felt the aching pains in his body as it was overshadowed by the ever longing jabs in his innards. Fighting the beast certainly drained what little strength he had at that time. However, the true hardship lied in dragging the beast back. All of that manual labor certainly made him incredible hungry considering his lack of food beforehand.

"We'd say that we all earned something to eat," he said talking to no one in particular. "Hey, Fobia. We're gonna let you down now, okay." Webber gently grabbed hold of the small spider on top his head and slowly laid Fobia on the ground. The spider whined a bit in disappointment but merely made itself comfortable on the dirt.

Webber than stood himself upright, with a bit more energy than the boy thought he had. He made his way towards the large beast where Muffet and Calamity were resting. The colossal mass of produce needed to be properly cleaned and stored away to take full advantage of its meat. This was a bit impossible, since Webber still didn't really have storage for food at the moment.

Webber let out a small sigh in annoyance. There always seemed to be a problem here and there no matter what they did. "Nothing new, we suppose." He calmly said as he made his way to the two chests from their base. There he packed all of the vegetation growth from one chest and moved it to the chest with plain resources. He tried to organize it as best he could so that the berries and such wouldn't be crushed by everything else. The chest was almost full when he finished. His eyes then shifted to the second chest that had been emptied.

Now he had one entire chest to store the meat that will come from the koalefant they managed to hunt down. Satisfied with his work, Webber seized one of the sharp pieces of flint and walked towards the koalefant. The dead animal was laying on the ground on its side, with a bleak stare in its eyes. The stature of an animal reduced to such a sorry state made Webber feel somewhat uneasy. 'You did what you had to Webber,' he reconciled. He took one last look at its face before turning away, 'What's done is done, anyway.' He wistfully concluded.

He made his way towards the side of the great beast. The first thing Webber wanted to do was slice a few slabs of flesh so that he may cook while he worked with the rest of the body. So he decided it would be best to start from the side of the animal, where its underbelly was in plain view. He would leave the head of the beast for last.

With even movements, Webber prepared himself to make the first incision. He inched the keen piece of flint in his hand until the ample mineral touched the soft skin of the subtle beast. With a few unnerving breaths, he swayed the object straight across the animal's torso. The flint cleanly sliced through the koalefant's soft belly and exposed the animal's raw flesh. Blood was clearly visible, and small sums of it poured out of the clean gash that had been created. Webber continued to cut through and reach the center of the beast. Upon reaching the internal organs, he began to pull them out of the body.

There was so much that Webber was able to see, the beast's insides were laid out bare. Flesh strewed together with a dark shade of red, but Webber never stopped slicing through the mangled organs.

'This is what it meant to live,' he solemnly thought. Webber's hands and bare chest were soaked in blood, it gave off a strong metallic smell. 'In order to survive, you must take the lives of others.' The mass of entrails lay scatted across the nearby ground. Finally, it looked as though all of the innards had been separated from the koalefant.

Webber's face was complacent. 'This is how it always was, though.' Webber had always known that they ate wildlife. His father would come home every now and then with some poor animal he had shot down with his rifle. Most times they were deers. Even though his mother showed him how to prepare them, he never liked doing it. In fact, he refused partaking in such an atrocious act. One day his mother had finally gotten the better of him and got him listen for a change. He cried the entire process.

Webber gave another look at the pile of intestines that lay on the floor. He was glad that his spiders were exhausted, otherwise they'd gobble the fleshy entrails like no tomorrow. 'That'd be a nauseating sight,' he imagined.

Webber then focused his sight on the koalefant once more and began to slice off a few slabs of meat. Carrying the meat in his arms, he made his way towards the crock pot and laid out the meat inside. Grabbing another piece of flint, he lit the coal underneath to begin cooking their meal. Since they had meat to spare, Webber felt that his friends deserved a nice helping of meaty stew.

The slowly roasting meat caused his hunger to emerge tenfold. His stomach was exploding in fits of emptiness, he also began to drool a bit.

With a craving mind, Webber made his way towards the koalefant once more to secure the rest of the meat. After several minutes, the chest that Webber decided to drag close to the koalefant began to fill up rapidly. There was still a large quantity of meat left on the beast. If fully harvested, it could probably last them two weeks. That is, if none of the meat went bad.

Soon, the chest was filled to the brim. The koalefant, however, still had meat on its body. It definitely was an enormous animal, which left Webber clueless on what to do with the rest of it. Leaving it exposed like this would just leave the maggots to feed on the raw flesh, causing it to spoil. There was also the pile of organs left on the ground. Along with the head of the beast that Webber couldn't bring himself to touch, even though he had plans to.

With a tired sigh, Webber closed in on the face of the koalefant. He placed one had on the forehead of the beast, gently stroking it as if it could still feel his presence.

For a while, he just petted its head while in deep thought. His eyes then shifted to the animal's trunk. Deep down, Webber wanted to take the trunk since it could be useful for him. Though, he felt a bit guilty of what he'd use the trunk for. Even so, Webber knew it would be better to have it then not.

Using a piece of flint, he carved the trunk off the head of the koalefant. After doing so, he carried the heavy thing over to the second chest. Once putting it inside, he walked towards the koalefant slowly. His eyes met with the face of the koalefant's once more. It looked a bit horrific without a trunk, almost as if it were cursing the boy for degrading the animal. Webber inched a bit close and rested his hand on the koalefant again.

"You helped us out a lot," he briefly stated, "why not take a long rest." With that said Webber grabbed the organs of the beast and began to carefully put them inside the carcass. Once he finished, he snagged his shovel and laid it on the ground near the fallen animal. "Just give us some time, okay." He said softly to the koalefant.

Webber turned the other way and strolled to the crock pot. The meat was almost ready, just a few more minutes and they could eat. Webber then called to his spiders but they didn't come. He then noticed that they were heavily asleep, so he gently went to each and every one of them to wake them up.

Most of them got up with no complaints except for Raven who grew a bit agitated being awaken from its slumber. It was a good thing the smell of roasting meat filled the air or Webber didn't think Raven would get up at all.

The gang then roughly made their way towards the crock pot where Webber began to give them their potions of meat. Muffet ate the fastest and savagely chewed through the meat. Webber laughed in the spider's antics while he enjoyed his own meal. The fulfilling meal was definitely what everyone needed and brought them a whole new wave of positive energy.

Once everyone finished, Webber gathered their attention. "Hey, everyone. We kind of need a favor from you guys." He started with a form of self-doubt. "We want to dig a hole big enough to bury the rest of the koalefant." Muffet and Calamity appeared taken aback from this, screeching amongst themselves in confusion. Webber spoke up once more, "It's just that we have no more room for meat, and…" he stopped talking when Faven too joined the fray.

Raven grew a bit annoyed by the spiders and wailed against them. The spiders then continued to bicker in a frenzy amongst themselves. Webber didn't speak up. How was he supposed to convince a bunch of spiders to give up a source of food they worked hard to collect. Webber sat himself down as the spiders squabbled continuously. Fobia had grew a bit frightened and nudged close the little boy.

It was a little strange to him, they have never argued for so long before. The situation itself was comical, spiders arguing over petty things. They were almost like how humans acted, it made Webber a bit happy. A smile formed on his face.

Rooney then let out a thundering wail that shocked everyone around him. They stopped their squabbling and turned their attention to the spider with a surprisingly loud voice. Except Rooney never let out a response, the spider simply turned its gaze towards Webber.

Webber gave Rooney a brief smile before diverting his attention to the rest of the spiders. With a stern voice he said, "Look, we know that it could be hard to understand why we want doing this sort of thing. To you guys it may look like tossing away food." Webber's voice grew softer, "But it's not, to bury someone is to show a sign of respect. It's to show them that their life wasn't taken for granted or for dumb reasons." Webber paused for a bit, eyes shifting away from their gaze. "It's the right thing to do," he silently murmured.

The spiders didn't respond right away, instead they all huddled close to the boy.

After recovering from the speech, the boy guided his spiders to the process. They helped drag the body to a nearby spot where it would be buried. Once there, they commenced digging a large hole. With the help of everyone, it was completed rather easily. They even managed to secure a little engraving on a small rock.

'Rest in peace'

Webber smiled slightly at the spectacle. Part of his guilt seemed to wash away, if only slightly. Rooney was beside the little boy.

Webber turned to the arachnid's direction, "Thanks for supporting me, Rooney." With a tear streaming across one of his cheeks he said, "We appreciate it." The spider was silent but understood the boy.

Webber and his friends began to work their way back to the campsite. The spiders started to frolic a bit as they approached their destination. Upon arriving, Webber thought of an idea.

"Hey, do you guys want to play a game?" he cheered.

Calamity was the first to respond with a positive screech. Thus the surrounding spiders chimed in for a group activity, even Raven eventually agreed to play. That is, after a bit of bickering.

"We were gonna try to make that machine, but we're feeling pretty good about today." Webber enthusiastically stated. "So how 'bout it, let's play leapfrog." He giggled excitedly.

The spiders waited for him to respond again since they didn't know what it was.

"We always wanted to try this game, we used to see the other kids play this all the time." He continued. "It's where you jump over your friend, but your friend is crouched down. Kind of like hopping over them like a frog." His excitement dropped a little. "Even though we wanted to play too…they wouldn't invite us," he sadly stated. "Sometimes we would try it on our own, but it really isn't fun by yourself." Webber mildly finished.

Webber was taken aback when Raven screeched in retort. "Aw come on, Raven. It'll be fun." Webber caught sights of the gang that didn't have the same enthusiasm he did. "Uhhh, oh how 'bout we make it like a race," he exclaimed. The spiders seemed a bit more eager now. Muffet and Calamity faced each other and exchanged dominant stares. Faven started bantering with Raven as the spider continued to be stubborn. Soon Rooney joined Faven and achieved an affirmative screech from the tenacious spider. They were all in.

"Yahooo!" Webber yelled. "This is gonna be fun," he stated while flinging his arms in excitement. "Alright, let's pick the teams."

After a short while, they assorted themselves in teams. One team consisted of Muffet, Raven, and Faven. The other was of Webber, Rooney, Calamity, and Fobia.

The rules were simply. The first team to make it back to camp from their starting point is declared the winner. To advance, each player must hop over the group in successive turns. The distance was around thirty yards, each team was determined to give it their all.

Fobia appeared a bit nervous towards the start of the race. "Hey don't worry, Fobia. Just give it your all," Webber said to frail spider gleefully.

Webber turned to the opposing team, "Ready." Both teams prepared themselves.

"Get set."

Webber steadied his legs, being the first of his group to start off.

"Go!"

From that moment, both Webber and Muffet charged straight over their teammates' heads with tremendous determination. They reached their desired spots with ease and the next players were off. In the first couple of seconds, the teams were neck and neck. It was when Fobia went that Webber's team lost their edge, since Fobia had to compete with Muffet's incredible lunge.

"It's alright, just keep going." Webber egged on. The spiders valiantly continued as the race sped on. But slowly, the other team kept moving farther away. It looked like they were going to win. It didn't bother Webber though, he was laughing and smiling the entire time. This changed when he saw Faven stop moving as the spider turned around. Webber felt it was odd for the spider to stop in the middle of its turn, Muffet tried to grab Faven's attention since the spider was costing them their victory.

Suddenly the spider loudly screeched towards them, and Webber felt something. With no time to spare, the boy turned around with a keen sense of sight. From the bushes, he saw a figure pass through. Instincts kicking in, Webber placed himself in front of his friends.

From out of the forest, charged a heavy pink beast. Webber ducked out of the way, leading the pig to come after himself. From the distance, Webber heard another being across the other direction.

From his sights, he saw a brawny pig lash out its hooves towards Muffet. Thankfully the spider dashed out of the way in time, but this was bad. Webber hadn't seen pigs since his first encounter, and now there are two of them right at their campsite. What's worse is that Webber didn't have his spear with him, how was he going to fight them off.

Without Webber knowing, the pig chasing him suddenly edged really close to him and tried to thrust its hoof at his chest. The pig stumbled to the ground misdirecting its jab just by a few inches, Rooney was near the two. The spider had attacked the pig's leg while it wasn't paying attention.

Before Webber could even thank the spider, he heard more fighting going on just a few yards away. It appeared as though another pig had entered the fray as Calamity and Fobia were fending it off. Webber's first thought was to help them out, until he heard the angry scoffs of the pig that just suffered injury. Rooney was right beside Webber, making intimidating sounds towards the pig.

Webber looked at the pig in a fit of frustration, it didn't really seem like he had a choice. The sooner he took care of this piece of bacon, the faster he could help the others.

"NO LIKE SPIDER!" the bipedal boar yelled.

It charged at them again, hoping to deal damage upon its foes. Webber sidestepped the pig, and then tried to land a punch on the pig's side. His fist made contact but the pig's skin felt incredible durable since the pig barely moved from its position. Rooney then climbed on top of the pig's back and delivered a very vicious chomp. The pig squealed in pain as it frantically moved from side to side. Webber took advantage of its behavior and smashed a nearby rock on the pig's face as hard as he could. The rock was more like a pebble, but blood could be seen leaking out of pig's cheek. Rooney finally latched itself off after the pig violently thrashed around.

Things were looking good for them, but a wild roar was heard some distance away from all of them. When Webber turned to meet the origin of the barbaric war cry, his heart skipped a beat.

Just past the fire pit where the spider den stood was a pink, brawny maniac. There was a forth pig standing directly in front on the spider den. Just a few feet away. They had planned this, it wasn't some strange encounter with random enemies. They had figured out where they lived, and shaped out a plan to take them out.

"DESTROY SPIDER EGG"

'Don't you dare touch that!' Webber internally screamed. It didn't work.

The pig raised one of its arms and lashed out at the silky structure. A harsh grating sound was heard upon the pig's fierce contact.

'No! Please don't touch it." Webber was now running towards the spider den, ignoring all else. The ruthless brute lodged his arm backwards once again and struck the den. And again. And again. Less than a minute had passed by as the beastly savage continued to pound away at the virtuous nest.

Webber was closing in on the merciless barbarian when the sun faded across the sky. It was dawn. The pig stopped what it was doing and held a face of fear.

"SUN IS GONE!" it cried.

Webber tackled the pig with colossal force, causing it to skid across the floor and roll around. Webber readied himself to fight against the pig, determined to protect the nest at all costs. But the pig didn't seem interested in him.

"HOME TIME!" it yelled to its comrades.

The remaining pigs scattered about, no longer interested in the fight of its enemies. They made their way towards the deciduous forest, completely ignoring Muffet as the spider chased after them.

"Wait Muffet, let them go." Webber cried. The large spider hence stopped giving chase at the sound of the boy's call. After a few moments, the pigs were in no visible sight. The forest did well to hide their bodies, as well did the lack of sunlight.

Webber's spiders then proceeded to tread towards him and the spider den. Webber turned his head to catch a glimpse of the spider den. It was still in one piece which gave Webber a sense of relief, but there were large dented bruises located on the side of the nest. White ooze dripped from the punctured cracks that were created from the onslaught. Any more damage and the pig could have punctured right through the silky mass.

The spiders approached their blemished sanctuary with a touch of grief. Fobia snuggled close and let out small whimpers as it lay by its base. Faven lay its head down in shame as the spider didn't want to gaze at the damage. Raven just stared at the thing, strictly appalled by its deformed stature. Rooney gave in to the comfort of Webber as the boy tendered to the sad spider. Calamity shortly made its way towards the colossal tower, and then grieved right by Fobia's side. Calamity was the loudest out of all of them, letting out small cries of disdain.

Muffet strolled by to face Webber. The spider's eyes were intense as they gazed upon the spider boy. Muffet didn't waver, the boy stared at the spider back for what seemed like a few minutes. Webber could feel the spider's ferocity the more he stared.

Finally he said, "You want to chase them down…don't you." Muffet didn't give him a response, just continued to glare. "It'll be dangerous, you know that right." He continued gently. "If we go after them, it could cost us our lives." He said sternly. The spider never showed any form of a response. "Your right," Webber said with a chuckle, "they know where we live now." Webber averted his eyes and faced the ground, "They'll be back…and they'll try again."

Webber let out a bitter sigh, "It's either us or them, right." A few soft tears began to form in his eyes. "Life tends to be that way, huh Rooney." He looked at Rooney as the spider nodded affirmatively. Wiping away his tears he said, "We'll ge-," he let out a small cough. Webber then took a deep breath to reestablish himself. "We'll go after them in the morning, we don't really have a choice."

The spiders turned to him, all with different expressions plastered on their faces. Webber was contemplating with a solemn aspect tied heavily around him. He wasn't too sure about this, they would be going against four pigs. To make matters worse, they possessed phenomenal strength. A single blow could prove fatal.

Webber was nudged by Muffet. He looked down to see all his spiders around him. Muffet let out a screech that boomed in confidence, the rest of the spiders seemed resolved as well. They appeared ready to fight against any combatants that threatened their home or their friends. Their dedication filled Webber with hope.

He crouched down to hug them all, cradling their fuzzy skin. 'We'll make it,' he thought. 'If we all work together, there's no way that they'll lose. His friends were tough, they handled hounds pretty well. And this time, they'll have him to protect them as well.' He clutched his friends a bit tighter.

Everything will be fine.

…

It was early in the morning, the sun had still not come up. It was barely grazing the horizon as it shimmered light through the forest. Webber had been awake for roughly an hour now, he watched as the shadows tempted his mind. Slowly they went away, which allowed Webber to clear his conscious.

He began to prepare breakfast, a hearty meal of meatballs. Laced with a handful of berries and carrots as well. He would wake his friends when the food was ready. Webber already had his spear in his grasp, he began to sharpen it with another piece of flint.

He appeared calm, but Webber was preparing himself. He was adapting his mind to that of a fighter, mentally fitting himself to strike without holding back. Readying himself to kill.

The sound of small trickling feet was heard behind the boy, the spiders were waking up from their slumber.

Webber turned to them, "Mornin'."

The spiders responded with a light growl before stretching their limbs. Webber proportioned their meals equally so they could all eat. They ate in silence. Webber couldn't really find the right words at the moment. He was anxious.

Once they finished he spoke up, "We guess it's time, huh." Muffet wailed in assurance. Webber let out a small sigh, "It'd be best to strike as soon as possible, that way they have their guard down." He mumbled. "That being said…are you guys ready," he spoke with doubt.

His friends cheered in unison, planting their feet firmly on the ground as to show their dedication.

"Alright," Webber took a deep breath. "Let's go."

The group headed in the direction of the deciduous forest, the sun enhancing light throughout the area. The spiders allowed depth in their formation as they scurried to the enemies' territory. The atmosphere was intense. They tried to be as silent as possible, taking necessary precautions to create the lightest steps possible.

Webber's ears sharpened as they strolled across the terrain. He focused his energy in hearing any movements that might indicate an intruder nearby. So far, nothing was out of the ordinary.

They reached the brick walkway after a small sum of time. Instead of treading on the smooth pavement, however, they hung close to the trees. Otherwise they could be spotted fairly easily.

But getting spotted by whom exactly, was the plan to meet the enemy along the way or stumble upon their home. Webber wasn't really sure, he just knew they had to act. They couldn't just wait for them to strike them, not like the other day.

No. He wouldn't let that happen. Webber would protect all of his friends.

Movement was heard from the opposite side of the brick path. Could it be them? Webber's spiders tensed up, he also drew his attention to the foreign movement coming from the other side. There were multiple movements. It could be them, they could be right on the other side. Was he ready to fight for survival? To fight for his friends?

Definitely!

He loved his spiders, he would gladly risk his life to protect them. These were the first friends he has ever truly made, far be it from anyone who tried to harm them. With determination, Webber gave the signal to advance to the enemy. Rooney stood by Webber as Muffet led the other spiders towards the front. Muffet will attack offensively while the others aim for their legs. That will give Webber the chance to strike a lethal blow.

Webber's hands were shaking, adrenaline pumped throughout his body as his spiders closed in on the unforeseen enemy. Then the movement stopped, it seemed they were now aware of their presence. This was it.

"Alright, show yourself!" Webber roared. From out of the shrubbery mass of topiary emerged two turkeys.

Webber was dumbstruck.

"Seriously, some stupid turkeys!" he exclaimed.

His spiders began to hunt the two birds by cornering them. "Guys, this isn't the time to hunt some dumb birds. We have more important things to do, remember." He called to them with no avail. "Uhhhh, fine. Hurry up and catch the dumb things." He retorted. Webber then sat down on the ground with his spear still in his hand, with Rooney still by his side.

He watched them give chase several times to the two birds. Expertly herding both prey into their desired location. Webber watched as the hunters dominated the playing field. It was clearly one sided, the turkeys didn't stand a chance. The gang was just too skilled to have any sort of difficulty. It amazed him how no matter how hard the birds tried, they couldn't escape their fate. Their immediate doom. It sent a few shivers down his spine.

Webber heard raspy breaths come behind him. No, it was something entirely different that caused cold shivers to creep along his back. Something much more frightening. Upon tilting his head, Webber was able to make out a beastly boar out of the corner of his eye. It's arm already high in the air. Webber was knocked back across the ground, and a horrible grinding noise vibrated through the air.

After regaining his footing, he noticed that he did not suffer any injury. After clarifying his physical state, his gaze then shifted immediately towards the attacker. Webber let out a whimper. A few feet away, Rooney had taken the hit of the pig full force. His body was unmoving and a purple liquid oozed out of his body.

The pig pulled its steal like hoof from the limp spider splattered on the ground. The spider didn't move.

'Why isn't he moving?'

Webber stared at the subtle body of the spider that had shielded him from an attack.

'Hey Rooney, quit kidding around.'

Webber took a few steps forward. 'Come on bud, we still have stuff to do.' Tears were streaming down his checks. 'We have so much games to play, don't you want to play.' He quivered.

Webber stopped in front of the pig, eyes solely on Rooney. The spider's face was no longer recognizable as his mouth lay in a distorted manner.

"SPIDER DEAD!"

Webber caved in, his tears flooding out of his eyes. He let out loud wails of agony and heartache. His spiders turned their attention towards their master's cries, horrified at what they saw.

Webber crouched down to his knees and screamed out to the open air, his waves of misery spreading through the island. The pig stood still, perhaps honoring his enemy for showing such compassion. The rest of the pigs then appeared from the trees, alarmed by the boy's shrilling cries.

"NO WORRY. YOU JOIN SOON!"

It was like that very instant that Webber was filled with unbridled rage. He lifted his head and glared maliciously at the pig. Hate burned in his eyes.

'It was you, you're the reason why he's dead.'

With quick reactions, Webber sliced through the pig with his spear. The boy cut through the pig's chest leaving a huge gash across its torso. Upon attack, the other pigs had charged. The spiders also joined the fray.

'We're sorry, Rooney.'

Webber made his way to the nearest one and jammed its knee. With the pig crashing along the ground, Muffet and Calamity began severely biting on its body. The rest of the spiders joined in and severed its important joints making it impossible for the pig to escape. The pig with the giant wound on its torso tried to run the other way, seeking protection amongst its comrades.

'We couldn't save you.'

Webber cut through another pig, this time striking its eye. The pig squealed in utter pain as Webber hopped on top of it and slashed its abdomen until it stopped moving. Another pig tried to attack the boy from behind. The pig managed to land a hit on the boy's side, but the boy didn't flinch in the slightest. Instead the boy fervently glared at the attacker with disgust. The pig took a few steps back in fear.

'Please forgive us.'

Webber retracted his spear and lunged it at the beast. It hit the pig dead center on its chest, most likely striking its heart since it stopped moving. There was one pig left. Webber turned to its direction, the pig was running away. It was desperately trying to escape from its deadly assailant. Webber charged at it with every ounce of energy he could muster.

'You were my first friend.'

Webber tackled the bulky pig to the ground. The pig struggled to pry the spider boy off its back, so it tried to fight back. Webber easily dodged its flailing arms and began to pummel the pig with his bare fists. It seemed to be a lot more effective to strike the pig on its face then its strong hide. Each strike that Webber inflicted on the pig had the intent to kill. He continuously struck the foe with intense ferocity.

'You KILLED Rooney!'

Webber still pummeled the boar, until his fists finally went numb and the pig was unconscious. Webber stood atop the pig's body, heavily sobbing. He cried until the rest of the gang caught up to him. Their faces all withered down and filled with sorrow.

Webber reached down to his friends. He hugged them tightly and sobbed onto their fur. Time slipped by for the group, but neither of them let go of their tight embrace. They had just lost someone dear, they needed the comfort.

…

The sun was grazing the sky, insinuating the dawn of a new day. Webber was leaning against a tree, someplace away from his campsite. He took in the open embrace of nature's tranquility as the birds continuously sang their repetitive songs. The island was quiet, and a bit serene.

"We wonder if there really is a way out of this place," he said to no one in particular. "There doesn't seem to be any other people living on this island. We wonder, maybe no one will ever find us." He said with a strange insight of calmness.

"At least things should be a bit easier from here on," he said lively. "We managed to build the machine after all. It has tons of new inventions to make life easier around here." He stated putting up a smile.

"There was this one item that was strange though," he softly said. "It was called the divining rod. We're not really sure what it does but it feels important." Webber stopped talking for a while. He simply sat and gazed at the sun exiting out of the horizon.

"The gang misses you," he said with his throat swelling up. "They were pretty eager to dig a hole for you, looks like they understand why that's important now." Webber stated with a hoarse voice. "We better go back to them, they might freak out if when they see that we're not there. That fire should go out in a bit," he sternly stated.

Webber stood up on his two feet, stretching his back and limbs. "See ya around," he solemnly said. By a large tree, there was a tombstone sticking out of the ground. A little writing was engraved on it.

'Thanks for everything, we'll miss you. ~Rooney'

 **Author's Note: My free time has been dwindling lately. I have even less time to work on this, go figures. Still really dedicated towards it though, not a day goes by where I don't think of this story. I mean, its two in the morning where I'm at and I didn't even notice. But I have some news to share. I recently am getting someone to draw some fanart of this fanfiction because I thought it could be cool. More like I'm paying them but still. Who knows when it'll be done, but when it is. You'll see it immediately because it's going to be the icon to this story. Yay!**

 **About this chapter, I've been waiting to write this specific part of the story for a while now. There were so many different ways this could have gone down. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as me. Forgive my grammar mistakes. Also, is a T rating good for this story or should it have some other rating.**

 **P.S. If you didn't know, I'm sure Rooney is Irish for hero. Though I could be wrong.**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Sorry about updating so late. I actually wanted to have this done in the first two weeks. Life never really works out the way you want it to. But here it is, some good stuff. Hope you liked it, this chapter made me emotional so I hope it does the same to you. Oh, and thanks on the feedback. Hope to update soon(hopefully). Have a great day!  
**

 **Paramillo: Thanks for the complement. The beginning of that chapter was actually the hardest part for me. And thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well, maybe shed some tears. If your too tough to cry, that's fine too. Have a good night(I think)!  
**


	8. Chapter 8: Silk and Petals

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 8: Silk and Petals

The cool breeze lightly brushed against the woods. The small grass danced in waves along the winds chilly melody. Amidst the green frolic was a bee embracing the sweet nuzzle of a flower no bigger than the bee itself. The bee, tremendously bigger than an average size, took comfort in the presence of the tranquil flora.

A sudden net swayed its way towards the bee, ensnaring the creature. This hostile attack instigated the nearby bee nest to swarm with agroed killer bees.

Webber was quick to flee the area, adding space between him and the swarm behind him. Once the bees were away from their nest, spiders appeared from the bushes and made their way towards the bee nest. In a fit of panic, the killer bees retreated to defend their home.

One of the bees were struck from behind, damaging its wing. The attack was made by Webber, who had thrown a boomerang. The spider boy continued his harassment as the bees ignored him and focused on defending their nest. But by the time the bees had made it back, the spiders succeeded in destroying the nest due to their large numbers. Enraged, the bees recklessly split off in various directions to fight against the combatants. Webber and his spiders were able to battle against the bees with ease since they lacked coordination. The battle didn't even last a few minutes.

"Is everyone alright," Webber stated slightly out of breath. After a quick look around, and a handful of screeches from his spiders, he confirmed everyone was okay. Webber then made his way towards the bee nest, or what was left of it. Amongst the subtle debris, which was a thick mass of plastered honey, was a think honey comb.

Webber looked long and hard at the honey comb, a slight sense of doubt going through his head. After a few seconds of intense glaring, he finally spotted it. In dispersion through the comb was a queen bee significantly smaller than any of its children.

"This is the queen bee," Webber said with shock. "We thought it'd be bigger than this," he said while giving it a glimpse from all sides. While he was mesmerized by the honey comb, Fobia nudged the spider boy to get his attention. The spider screeched and stared at his hand, the other spiders interlaced their eyes towards him as well. Some stared at his throbbing hand while others were fixated on his grisly torso.

Webber knelt down near the desiccated honey by his feet and reached into his backpack. Inside his backpack, he pulled out some paper he fabricated out of reeds. He then spread some of the dehydrated honey onto the paper to from a bandage with some form of gauze.

Webber was preparing to cover a wound on the side of his chest. The side of his ribcage had a very noticeable laceration that swelled up with purple puss. The gash would sometimes leave Webber with massive trauma and pain, other times it was just a minor annoyance.

Carefully, Webber used his good hand to wrap the adhesive around his chest and shoulder. He managed to skillfully engulf the entire wound, the honey quickly reacting to the infectious laceration. Webber felt a grand, burning sensation pulse throughout his chest, catching him off guard. He cried out in pain, gently clutching his gash as the sensation intensified. Muffet ran circles in hysteria as the other spiders frantically panicked.

"Hey, we're alright!" Webber voiced, muffling through the pain. His spiders calmed down a bit, but their doubt remained. Webber was breathing heavily, trying his best to show a friendly face through his rapid, raspy breaths.

After a few minutes, the pain died down. Webber caught his breath before speaking again, "See, nothing to worry about." He laughed a bit. His spiders still had the same worried expression on their face. Webber then proceeded to make another honey poultice for his swollen right hand.

Wrapping his right hand was a bit easier than his wound. He used his mouth and other hand to skillfully wrap it around in a nice bundle. No immense pain seemed to follow up his damaged hand, putting his spiders at ease.

"There," Webber said with a slight grin. "These bandages should do for now, we'll wrap new ones once we get some fresh honey." Webber packed the honeycomb and bug net into his backpack before signaling to departure.

Their campsite wasn't too far off, just a short walk away. During walks, Webber would often let his mind wonder off. Sometimes he would be thinking ahead, figuring out what should be accomplished for the day. Occasionally, he would even fantasize about the divining rod he had found a while back.

That contraction was something short of an enigma, completely confounding even the alchemy engine with its extensive knowledge. In reality, it was just a radio on a stick. Transmitting a loud, static noise ever so often. Though, Webber couldn't help but feel it was important somehow.

Webber felt a slight tinge of pain which caused him to flinch. He hurriedly fought through the pain to alleviate any concern from his spiders. They didn't notice, he sighed in relief. The wound has been bothering Webber for a while now. It started small, but it looks like the wound got infected due to improper care.

A frown started to form onto Webber's face. He received the wound when he was battling the pigs. Just two days had passed since that event, Webber doesn't like thinking too much about it.

They arrived to their base, Webber started to sort out his items. He then went to this wooden box he had constructed, taking the honey comb and bug net with him. The wooden box was established to home the honey bees that Webber had collected through the past days. With a queen bee, the box should hold a thriving bee colony that will be able to produce loads of honey.

The honey will be a great advantage into producing more honey poultice along with recipes involving honey. But even after fulfilling the days requirements, the day was still young. It was barely the middle of the afternoon, and yet Webber was feeling quite exhausted.

Webber took it upon himself to lay down near the campfire, where he can observe his spiders frolic around the campsite. He caught a glimpse of Raven and Calamity by the spider nest. They seemed a bit defensive, taking the liberty to consistently scan the area. It made sense, the egg nest was barely recovering from the damage it had received. Small patches of yellow web filled the gaping holes that punctured the nest. Little by little, the nest appeared to be recovering itself. This didn't stop the spiders from constantly guarding it, even succumbing to taking turns.

Sometimes, they were hesitant to leave their campsite for too long. Webber reasoned with them of course. Whenever he would need to travel far, three spiders would be left behind to defend. Though, this only happened once since they didn't want Webber wandering out in his current condition.

Therefore, Webber was stuck by the campsite most of the time. Maintaining the farm, checking materials, tinkering with the alchemy engine. Webber didn't mind too much though, they still had a considerable amount of meat to last them a couple more days.

Besides, he did need his rest. Only time could heal his wounds, that and some honey. Webber laid his head back, gracefully glaring into the sky. His eyelids blinked ever so slowly, basking in fresh, cool air. His body gave in to gravity as he relaxed his muscles, and drifted soundly asleep.

...

Thundering steps could be heard as the ground shook. A loud roar echoed through the woods. Trees crashed down in pairs as a enormous beast brushed them aside with profound strength. Nearby animals fled away from the opposing force.

Some distance away stood a campsite, inhabited by a little girl. Upon hearing the atrocious roar, she juggled her way to gather her things. Beside her stood a floating entity, vivid in brightness but lacking a physical body. The girl was quick to pack certain essentials onto a bag, then equipped a football helmet and held a divining rod.

The sound of the beast was much more rambunctious, instilling a sense of dread onto the little girl. Despite the girl's small stature, she held a calm expression. She knew what was coming.

A Giant.

Massive creatures that defiled nature in every way. Each had its very own form of malice that dominated the season only bringing along hardship. The girl has faced quite a few in her past, but this was the first time facing the king of fall. The last giant nearly scorched her alive, she would have to be extremely cautious. She wasn't much of a fighter, therefore the first sign of trouble and she would flee.

The ground stopped shaking for a moment, the beast could be heard a little ways from her camp. It seemed to be combating something, southeast from her camp.

The girl moved slowly towards the contentious battle. The floating entity following close beside her. It appeared that the giant had passed through the pig village as several pigs came out of their homes to fight the intense creature.

The giant was encased in thick black and white fur. Its paws were the size of her head and supported keen, jagged claws. It walked on its two feet which sustained a massive torso. Its face was the most distinguishable, resembling that of a bagger with black stripes and sharp teeth. The beast was enraged.

Several pigs continued to pound and kite the giant as it struggled to take down a single foe. For a moment, the girl thought that they could defeat the beast. That she didn't have to leave this world after all. She hoped, if only for a second.

The giant raised its massive paws upward with a ferocious demeanor. It then slammed them to the ground below it with an incredible force. Smashing the ground beneath it and stumbling any pigs near the beast.

Before the little girl could do so much as think of joining the fray. The giant snagged one of the pigs with its paws. Raised it towards its jaw, and tore through half its body. Blood gushed out in waves from the dismembered pig, staining the fur of the giant a crimson color. The beast eat the pig voraciously, tearing through flesh and bones. Its comrades watched in horror as the giant continued to horrendously devour their friend. The pigs staggered back as they struggled to recompose their fighting spirits.

"They're going to die soon." The girl then stood herself up. "Come on Abigail, we don't have much time."

...

Webber awoke from a bad dream. His rapid breaths drew attention from Faven who was huddled close by. The spider cuddled close to the boy, trying to comfort the spider boy as best as it could. Webber eased a bit, his body a bit sore from the wound. He petted Faven on the head, gently stoking the worrisome spider.

"Sorry to scare you," he said continuing to pat the arachnid, "just a bad dream." For a moment, Webber tried to remember what his dream was about. Only to be met with a blurry annoyance of what seemed like a nightmare.

Webber looked around, it was the evening. Probably going to be dark in a couple hours. The bandage around him already seemed to be losing its value, the honey barely having any saturation.

"Hey, we're gonna check the bee box." Webber said getting up. Faven screeched in affirmation and picked itself up to follow alongside the boy.

After examining the bee box, it appeared the bees were able to produce a small amount of honey. Webber then retrieved the honey, careful not to instigate the bees nesting inside. Using some more paper, he concocted another honey poultice. Hoping that the fresh honey would do a better job at treating his wounds.

As Webber unwrapped the bandage located on his ribcage, Muffet and Calamity treaded towards him. The spiders eyed him curiously as his gash was exposed to the open air. There was still a gaping hole in Webber's body, but it was less infected and swollen.

"See guys, we'll be fine." He said with high spirits. "This stuff acts pretty fast." Webber then proceeded to wrap the new adhesive onto his torso. The fresh honey slowly easing the pain around his wound, a completely different feeling from the first time. The spiders cood next to the boy in spite of his better condition.

"Hey, haha. Stop, guys." He said while giggling. The spiders continued to gently huddle against Webber as he squeamishly pushed them away. "Alright, alright. It's good to see you guys are happy, today feels like a good day." He said while walking towards the chest. "How 'bout we cook some food, we think we deserve something filling." The spiders sprang with joy upon the mention of food, even Fobia and Raven wanted to join in on the fun. Though, they stood their positions by the spider nest with eager expressions.

"Sounds good, we'll get some food cooking right away." Webber said with a grin. Soon the air was filled with the savory aroma of meat boiling with a fresh side of veggies. "Today is turning out to be a pretty good day."

...

"We have to move faster." In the midst of the forest, a little girl was running away from a massive beast. The giant had finished the pigs with ease, and is now giving chase to the little girl and her companion. The girl had stocked up on anything she deemed necessary, but the beast was quick to find her campsite. It immediately gave chase to her, carelessly ramming into all of the structures by her campsite.

The girl was in a frantic hurry to get to her destination. Her mysterious ally quickly going through obstructions to match the girl's speed. She was fairly close by, but the giant wouldn't let up. The tremendous beast knocked down anything in its path, leveling the path in front of it. Every second the beast staggered behind belittled the mentality of the little girl. The beast released a rancid aura that influenced feelings of anguish. The sun setting on the other side of the horizon only increased the intensity of the situation. One wrong move, and she would be dead.

The sound of the divining rod increased exponentially. To the point it was deafening to the eardrum. She could see the mechanism just ahead, a portal to a new world. Found and preset by her just in case of emergencies. This gave a feeling the girl wasn't used to, hope.

The ground quaked beneath her, the harsh movement caused her to fall face first onto the floor. Dropping the divining rod just a few feet away from her, and receiving a few scratches along her body. The giant had smashed the ground to halt her escape.

Seeing its opportunity, the giant charged full head towards the little girl. In response, the girl picked herself up wielding an ax from her bag. Her eyes fixated on the beast with a deadpan stare. In a flutter of a second, a quick flash of light beamed through the giant. The giant's fur was singed a bit on its torso, causing it to turn to its assailant. The bright being appeared to have damaged the frightful beast.

"Abigail, don't." Cried the little girl.

The beast charged at the strange being, and swiped its massive paws against the inanimate obscurity. It flinched upon impact, signifying that it took damage.

As the two battled, the girl reached in her bag hoping to find anything useful. The spirited being dodged blow after blow before being struck a second time. The ghostly figure seemed gravely injured as its movements slowed down. The beast was quick to maintain its fighting advantage as it lashed out another hit. The being's figure dissipated, only a wilted flower emerged from the onslaught.

The girl's opportunity was now, she could easily make her way towards the contraction while the beast was dumbfounded. Instead, she dropped her bag and held an ax firmly in her hand.

"Abigail, I'm not done playing with you yet." She said solemnly.

Slowly, she made her way towards the giant. Her ax slowly grazing the small blades of grass as they waved against the cool wind. The giant refocused its attention, and ominously treaded in her direction. Each step shook the earth and vibrated the surrounding fauna with tremendous power.

The girl soon stopped her movements as the beast was a few yards away from her. The giant staggered closer and the girl felt the sheer influence of its negative emotions. The girl didn't falter.

Quickly, she dashed through the giant's legs. She could feel the beast's movements from the ground's violent shaking. She didn't care, she sprinted towards the wilted flower. Once she retrieved the flora, she turned around expecting an upcoming attack from the vile creature.

Except the monster ignored the girl completely. Instead, the beast charged towards her backpack and violently tossed away its contents desperately searching for something. Finally, it pulled out some raw meat that the girl safely stuffed inside for safe keeping. The giant hungrily snacked on its contents and carelessly tossed the bag away. It then let out a heavy yawn before facing the girl once more. The beast then got on all fours and made its way out of the forest.

The girl was a bit shocked for a moment, trying to process what just happened. "The thing just wanted my food." She said slightly agitated.

Calming her nerves down, she decided to sit down for a bit. The beast could be heard quite a ways, possible chasing its next meal.

"Well, this world's a bust." Getting back on her feet, she made her way to her bag. It was torn to shreds and all of its contents were scattered aimlessly. The sun then began to slowly drop by the horizon, nightfall was beginning. Scavenging a torch from the debris, she lit it up to and made her way towards the portal mechanism. Along the way, she picked up very few commodities along with the divining rod that continuously resonated.

The girl flashed her torch towards the strange device. A mechanical gizmo shape shifted to a obnoxious floating head. For a short time, she inspected the items she had with her. She was wearing a puffy vest and a football helmet. She sported an ax in one of her hands and the divining rod on the other. Her pockets were filled with a couple carrots and Abigail's flower. That's it.

She couldn't carry anymore considering her backpack was ripped to pieces. With barely any hesitation, she latched the rod onto the opening hole near the ground. This made the mechanical head avert its eyes and speak.

 _ **Do you wish to travel onto a new world?**_

The girl pondered for a moment, it was nightfall. And leaving at this time of season could be extremely difficult to pull off. A deafening roar was sounded in the distance. The girl turned to the mechanical head and answered, "Yes."

Upon receiving the answer, long arms in the presence of shadows swooped up from the floor. They wrapped around the girl and pulled her into nothingness. The mechanical head let out dysfunctional waves of laughter.

 **Author's Note: This chapter is extremely late. I'm terrible sorry that I haven't been updating at all, life could be incredible interesting. I plan to update a lot this summer, but I do have anime expo in just a few days.**

 **I'd like to credit Lisa Lumos who I commissioned to draw the picture displayed. You could find her on tumblr at thatonegirludontknow. At least I'd like to say that but it doesn't look like she's on tumblr anymore. Either way, she is an amazing artist and I respect her a great deal. Hope she fares well.**

 **Continuing on to the plot line, I was always planning on putting Wendy in the story. So that much hasn't changed, story will focus on them but mainly Webber. Though, the new reign cinematic has altered my plot line heavily. If you haven't already, check out the Don't Starve together video. I won't spoil. Till then, if anyone is still reading this then thank you for being supportive. Have a great day!**


	9. Chapter 9: Polite Conversation

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 9: Polite Conversation

The sun beat around the area with an atrocious ray. The air was uncomfortable humid and the ground was a musty heap of purple muck. A little girl lay sprawled onto the corrosive substance barely recovering from her unconscious state.

The rancid smell and pollution through the air added to her nausea and trauma. The girl attempted to slightly pick herself up. She struggled to move her body as she propped both of her arms onto the ground.

A sudden ring vibrated though her head and her vision blurred severely. Unknowingly, her face splattered to the mushy floor as she failed to regain her composure. Her tongue tasting the putrid marsh as she jerked a bit to control her limbs. She gagged violently and let out severe coughs mustered with mucus and saliva. The taste created a vile sensation in her mouth. She grappled to hold her sobriety as she could feel her insides churn up. Until she could no longer hold it in, she threw up on the floor. She exerted her energy on breathing through the horrendous process. Her throat ached and burned as liquid chunks escaped her mouth.

After a few moments, she hurriedly spat out the rest of the repulsive material and forced herself to breath. Her throat was uncomfortable dry and irritated. After several attempts to rid herself of the loathsome taste in her mouth, she started to take notice of her surroundings. The girl was quite familiar with it.

"M...marsh," she whimpered. The girl found herself in a pretty bad situation. She managed to spawn into one of the worse areas after losing nearly everything. The girl stood herself up, there was no time to be dawdling. With ax in hand, she made her best effort to travel though the terrain. Keeping a keen eye out for any air bubbles traversing through the mucky mass. The girl also focused her attention to spot any merm huts that happened to be around the area. Of course, she couldn't forget about any spider nests as well. Though she wasn't quite worried, it was daytime after all.

Along the way, she passed various huts and environmental hazards. Oddly enough, she didn't spot a single spider nest. Swamp biomes are usually commonly known to home spiders throughout the area. On different occasions, they trouble her the most with their large infestation. Not this time.

After a while, she spotted a natural path to follow. In hopes of entering a new biome, she followed it with haste. Easily avoiding the corroding tentacles masking beneath the purple sludge.

She traveled down the path for at least half an hour before finally seeing a new patch of terrain in the distance. A small grin managed to escape her face, no longer needing to smell the putrid odor of the marsh. When something caught her eye in her peripheral vision.

She halted her staggered jog, and fixated her gaze towards odd looking obstructions. In the distance towards her right were damaged stone walls just a few feet tall. The walls were placed in a disorderly fashion that circled round together. Upon closer inspection, there also seemed to be dark and caustic flowers blooming near the walls. The girl remembered this scenery all too well.

She ventured towards the epicenter of the foundation with a knowing calmness. Towards the center, she found a mechanism in the form of a box. One of the devices used to traverse towards different worlds. Picking it up, she said, "The box thing."

Continuing on, she searched for another object in the strange landscape. Next to a garden gnome, there was a spear leaning against one of the walls. Since both of her hands were full, the girl dragged the ax and spear together using the bottom of the handles. She then made her way towards the new biome.

It was a forest biome filled with lumpy evergreen and pine trees. The girl let out an annoyed sigh before gathering grass and sticks to construct a backpack. It took her quite a while to collect enough grass, but she managed.

The girl decided to sort out her few items into her bag. She began by taking off her puffy vest and stashing it away into her bag for later use. She also tossed the box thing inside. The girl then reached into her pockets and pulled out its contents. She stored her few carrots inside before gazing at the frail flower. Entranced, she kept her eyes locked on the flora for a few moments longer. Solemnly, she stored it into her pocket once more.

Using good use of her time, the girl began obtaining necessary materials that were at her disposal. She chopped down trees for wood, and collected nearby flint and sticks. After a while, she began to fatigue and her stomach growled.

Starting a small fire, she roasted the small amount of carrots she had. They were not enough to fill her entire appetite, but enough to get by for the moment.

She sat by the dying fire with a spiritless expression on her face.

"I'm bored," she said lightly.

The girl once again reached into her pocket and pulled out the wilted flower.

"You'll come back, won't you Abigail." There was a small hint of longing as she spoke. "This world already annoys me, at least with you things seemed more lively." She let out a small sigh. "We're just prolonging the inevitable, everything in life eventually meets an end." Her voice was soft spoken. "Winter should be coming soon. The season of the harsh cold, the world will be engulfed in soft, powdered snow. It'll incase the ground, killing anything it touches. Leaves will fall, ponds will freeze, all will suffer at the hands of nature's true purpose. For winter is the bearer of loss."

The girl didn't move from her spot. She wandered her eyes in the distance, looking at a single direction. Focusing on a much broader and profound view that could only be seen through her eyes. After some time, her fire went out. She gathered her things and continued through the forest. Hoping to find something more useful along the way.

To the girl's dismay, she did find something. She first noticed a moist sound being emitted near the ground. Just a few feet away was a giant, wormlike mouth morphed into the floor. It had several teeth protruding the inner ridges of the mouth along with thick, furry lips.

"A wormhole," she stated. With the blunt side of her spear, she poked at the flesh like crater. Carefully pondering on what action to follow. The bizarre wormhole was a way to travel across the world, usually to different biomes. A beneficial commodity for fast travel that came with a small price. Without a moment's notice, she leaped into the opening.

...

Webber was in high spirits. It was the first night where he didn't experience any influence from his wound. He started the day by cooking some breakfast for everyone. While waiting, he treaded towards the bee box to replace his current honey poultice. Upon removal of the old appendage, Webber caught a glimpse of his raw flesh. With most of the infection cleared, the damage inflicted was now visible.

Webber was stunned for a brief few moments. He did not comprehend how bad of an injury he had actually experienced. A gash was strewn about his left ribcage, a few centimeters deep and several inches long.

"That was close," he said lightly quivering. It was any sort of a miracle the boy didn't bleed to death. Webber sighed restlessly as he proceeded to wrap another adhesive around his torso.

The slightest touch of the damaged muscle insinuated a wave of pain through his nerves. He could hear blistering reactions as the honey coincided with his skin.

"Don't complain," he said to himself. "Just be happy the infection is nearly gone," he muffled trying to use his mouth to aid his bandaging. "We need to be more careful. Better yet, we need to be able to take care of ourselves. We refuse to be a burden." Webber stopped as his eyes were beginning to swell up. "If we were at least paying attention..." the boy took deep breaths to regain his speech. "Maybe...just maybe."

Webber finished up dressing his wound. Afterwards, he walked in the direction of the crock pot. Muffet was already waiting patiently to be given its meal. The immense spider leaped towards Webber once in range. The boy niftily dodged the energetic spider to avoid any further damage against his injury.

"Nice try Muffet, but you still can't catch me." Webber taunted. The large spider then skidded in the direction of his feet and began kindly munching on his legs. "Hey," he said giggling, "Cut it out, we get that you're hungry. Just hold on a bit more." Muffet then released the boy as he made his way to the crock pot.

Observing and taste testing the meatballs boiling in the cauldron, he figured it was ready. "Alright, it's done. Hey Muffet, can you wake everyone up." The spider cheered in enthusiasm. "Oh, wait. Before you do," Webber said halting the spider in its tracks. "We're gonna explore today." He explained. The spider stood confused as why this was worth explaining.

"To be more specific, we want to wander around with the divining rod." He continued. "It's a strange...we don't know, thing. But it seems like it could help us get out of here. Maybe..." Muffet puffed out its chest and let out a screech. The spider pranced around the boy in a rowdy and proud manner.

"Hey, Muffet. We can't have you coming with us." Webber said with a smile. Almost instantly, the spider regressed its positive movements and grumpily nudged the spider boy. "Hey, hey. Don't be mad." Webber knelt beside Muffet. "We need someone to stay by the spider nest, don't we." The boy patted the spider on the head as it began to calm down. "And since you're the strongest, it only makes sense that you stay here." The spider crawled closer to the boy in a flourish of small cries.

"You're not worried about me are you," Webber said tilting his head. The large spider screeched in response, its giant mass now on top of the boy's lap. "Oh come on, have some faith. We'll be taking Faven and Calamity with us anyway. There's nothing to worry about." He said reassuringly. The spider leapt from his lap, pompously exhibiting battle cries. Webber couldn't help but laugh.

"Then it's settled, we'll leave things to you. We're sure you'll do a great job protected our home." He said containing his laughter. Muffet imitated a salute before turning off to wake up the others.

"Oh, Muffet. One last thing," he said hastily. The spider turned once more to face the spider boy. "Look out for Fobia. Cuz, well...Fobia isn't the best fighter." He said softly. This time, Muffet let out a stern and vicious roar. A deliberate and serious tone that usually differs from the spider's demeanor.

"Thanks."

Once Muffet woke up the rest of the gang, they happily ate their meal. As soon as the food settled in their bodies, Webber set off on his small journey. With a backpack in tow, he sported a boomerang along with the divining rod. Some meatballs were stashed away just in case the journey turned out to be longer than expected. Faven and Calamity followed him as they made their way towards the brick path.

The divining rod continued to give off an obnoxious noise every so often. Webber figured it would be best to travel through the grassland. The terrain seemed the least dangerous and was also poorly explored. Not to mention that the area thrived in berry bushes and wild carrots.

In little time, they arrived at their destination. Exploration was simple and enjoyable. The sun is shining lightly through the area, giving a calming radiance to the trees. The wind provided a soothing balance for the sun's rays with a chilling breeze, pleasant against the skin.

"Hey Calamity, want to play a game?" Webber asked. The spider reveled around ecstatically in response, while Faven let out a screech in defiance. "Oh, come on Faven. Don't be a sourpuss, that's usually Raven's job." He teased. The spider screeched again, this time poking at the divining rod in Webber's hand. Calamity nudged the other spider for a playful response, but Faven stood firm.

"It's such a nice day thou-," Webber stopped midsentence. A strange noise was heard softly in the distance. At that moment, Faven's eyes focused and he scudded across the ground. The spider moved skillfully to the sound of the noise, Calamity following clumsily behind. "Wait," cried Webber.

The boy hurriedly pursued out his companions, forcing his body to move in rapid succession. He found them both laying low under some cover. Relieved, the spider boy joined them and focused his gaze in the direction they were looking.

The floor was covered in purple carpeting, arranged in a fashion like manner. The carpet displayed decorative and ornate patterns in its entirety. Some stone columns stood in display, supporting nothing in particular. Peculiar bleak flowers were blooming around the carpet, infusing an aluminous aura upon its presence. That was the least unsettling.

Among the strange decor, there was a mechanical being stomping along the enclosure. It was in the form of a horse, except it had no arms and was bipedal. It appeared to be made out of broze metal and had a coil appendage as its waste. Its face was fixated with an aggressive expression as it toiled around the area.

"Wait! That could be!"

The mechanical horse then promptly swung its head. It scanned the area, followed by slow movement of its hind legs. Its gears and dials crackling as it made itself closer to the direction of the sudden outburst.

Webber held his mouth shut as the being strut closer to their location. Deeply regretting his actions. Faven stiffened its legs into an assertive position, even letting out a soft growl. Calamity had already moved about, slithering through the grass and bushes. The spider took camouflage from a nearby bush as the knight continued forward. Calamity's several eyes piecing the metallic body fluctuating towards their location.

Webber tried to get Calamity's attention using rapid hand motions. To his avail, the spider was already dead locked on the knight.

'This is bad' Webber thought.

The approaching automation could now be felt through the shaking ground. Repetitive pulses vibrating along the earth as the machine flung around its heavy mass. It was close. The knight stopped its movement. It glazed through the forestation around itself as steam exited its nostrils.

Webber hoped it wouldn't notice their presence, and that his spiders would not pick a fight. Until another noise went off, loud enough to sound off Webber's exact position. The diving rod resting in Webber's hand had gone off. Frightening the boy from sheer shock and dismay.

The horse wailed out an instinctive battle cry, initiating its charge against Webber. Calamity took its chance and aimed towards the knight's legs. The spider hastily singed its teeth on the metal limb, dealing little damage. But the petite arachnid didn't let go, instead Calamity applied more force against its legs. Its teeth slowly seeped themselves into the metal appendage, almost crushing it.

The automation was quick to react to its attacker. It leaped into the air and flung out its hind legs violently, trying to pry the spider off. Calamity held on for a while before being flung through the air in a brutal manner. As the knight continued to thrash around, Webber tossed his boomerang with a dreadful force. The flying projectile managed to hit the horse's snout. The knight staggered back a few feet, struggling to maintain its balance. Faven then proceeded to tackle the falling foe, knocking it to the ground.

The horse squealed in defective sounds as it struggled to get back up. Faven relented little mercy as the spider quickly severed the leg that had been damaged. Frustrated, the knight flailed relentlessly back and forth. Webber and Faven stood their distance as the automation continued its resentful onslaught. Calamity limped its way towards the defeated foe, indulging itself in a victory screech.

Webber gazed at the terrifying mechanism before him. The boomerang had transfixed itself through the metal snout, clearly stuck in place.

The knight's violent screams echoing through his eardrums. Webber couldn't help but feel as though it were, alive. The wild and frantic movements of this robot represented that of a dying animal.

"This is ha, hard to watch." Webber stuttered. Turning away, the boy picked up a solid rock found nearby. He slowly walked back with a serious grimace slandered across his face. In its entirety, the knight never stopped its debilitated maneuvers. It constantly crashed against the ground in an attempt to stand itself upright. No visible sign of fatigue of any kind.

Webber raised the rock above his head, aiming it towards the supposed neck of the automation. With closed eyes, he chucked the boulder at the knight. A loud metallic sound vibrated as the rock bounced off the creature. The impact dented the knight and cracked part of its armor. But it didn't die. It only increased the intensity of the machine's wild movements. Webber, now determined to end this quickly, grabbed hold of the rock and lashed out again. And again. And again.

He continued until the head portion of the knight was separated from its body. Finally, the machine stopped moving. Thus, Webber shakily shuddered to his knees. Faven, noticing his distraught mentality, climbed on top of the boy. Calamity shuffled in front of him, screeching in a positive manner. The spider continued on, even as going to climb on top of the automation for a pose. A smile creped onto his face.

"You're certainly a handful Calamity." He said nonchalant. Faven let out a screech in agreement. "We could've just ran away, but noooo." He said poking fun. "Attack, says Calamity." The insulted spider strode towards him with uptight remarks. Webber laughed at Calamity's attempt to communicate with him. It looked like the spider was dancing angrily.

"Hey, we're just joshing. Come here," he said pulling the spider closer to him. "We're just glad you're okay. Well, mostly okay." He said looking at the spider's legs. One of the many legs were injured and curled up into a ball to prevent further injury. Calamity then escaped from his grasp to freely move around, in an attempt to reassure the little boy. He giggled a bit.

"Sorry you have to put up with us Faven." Webber said. The spider appeared puzzled at his statement. "What with Calamity acting like a fool and us with our big mouth. We're surprised you're still sane." The spider let out another cry in agreement. "Hey, don't agree." He said giggling. Their attention being diverted by the divining rods outburst.

"Then there's this stupid thing," he said bitterly. "Could've killed me," he said pouting. Webber's attention then shifted to the clockwork knight in the distance. "Well, at least we can make an ice box."

...

A frail little girl wandered through a deep forest. The wormhole had spat her out near the beachside. Her luck proving to be terrible worse throughout the day. Since the biome that she had just come from was of the exact same kind.

Evidently, she began experiencing intense sanity loss as she recovered from the wormhole. Sinister shadows were hidden between the trees as small whisperings of nothing echoed through the forest. The girl muffled through her delusions as best she could. Searching diligently for flowers or any indication of a more charming biome then the forest. Instead, she stumbled into a graveyard.

"This day just keeps getting better."

There was no other way through, going back would just lead to the ocean once more. Exhausted, the girl carefully strode across the graveyard. As she went by, mist enveloped the surrounding area providing little clarity. For whatever reason, she was able to relax as she passed by several graves.

The girl pulled out her petite flower and held it with an empathetic embrace. "Hey, Abigail. Will you bury me when I die?" She said freely. A small grin on her face. She took a long calming breath as she continuously walked about the cemetery. One stood out in front of her and she was able to read the engraving.

'Here lies the body of Webber. KILLED BY CHARLIE.'

The girl touched the grave with her frail hand and smoothly felt the edgy stone. "Some day, I will join you." The girl then progressed to walk away from the grave, further north. As she walked, the sun began to slightly fade. It was now dusk.

The girl continued until exiting the graveyard and finding the forest again. Her stomach growled. She had very little to eat, and yet the day was almost over. Thankfully, she spotted a berry bush. Except the bush only contained a few berries, scarcely any to provide nourishment. She couldn't complain though.

Upon eating the few berries, she noticed a tree stump near the bush. It was just an ordinary tree trunk, but that was the point. She didn't chop it down. After further investigation, she noticed a few more stumps in the given area. Then she spotted something unique.

In the far distance, there was a campsite. Structures organized in a poor manner, but a campsite nevertheless. Someone else was trapped in this world. She was so sure that it was only her along with Abigail. Doomed to roam around the infinite ambiguity of hell's creatures and their cruel games.

Three worlds. She had been to three previous worlds besides this one. And now, she finds evidence to other survivors. It was almost unbelievable.

"But...they could be dead." She said out loud. There was the campsite, but no one was present. As if matters couldn't be worse, she spotted a spider nest near the site. A second tier spider nest that had two spiders and a spider warrior guarding it.

'Why would someone live near a spider den?' She thought. 'Did they farm for silk. Didn't they know it would get bigger. Were they that incompetent.' The girl let out a sigh. Her collective mind figuring out the puzzle pieces.

"Whoever was here, was eaten," she rationalized. "How else would a spider warrior be out without a hostile attacker." A small sense of grief fell before the girl. She held to her spear tightly, jarring any emotional pain that slid through her heart. She had to focus, she would not let the same fate befall herself. She will kill the spiders.

A sudden sound trailed from behind. She quickly spun around, spear facing the direction of the abrupt commotion. What she saw left her awestruck.

A few feet away stood an abnormal humanoid spider standing on two feet. Its mouth agape and handling a poor woven spear. Its skin was black and sported the same fur as the spiders that inhabited this island. It looked human, but it wasn't.

"Ar-are you a survivor too," it said astonished.

The creature reached its hand forward. The girl flinched away from its grasp, still grasping her spear. Pointing it at the boy with aggression. Two spiders displayed their presence beneath the boy. Instantly scowling and assuming an attack like position against the small girl. The spiders around the nest took notice as well, thus joining the fray.

"Wait, hold on." Screamed the strange humanoid. The spiders continued on, circling the girl and cutting off her means of escape.

'Crap.' She thought. 'I hesitated. That being's appearance caught me by surprise. I should have-'

Just then the boy flung himself towards the middle. Dropping any items from its hands to stay in front of the girl.

"We said stop!" it screamed. The spiders halted in their tracks, with bemused looks upon their bodies. "She isn't our enemy," he continued, "we don't need to fight." The spiders held their ground, clearly observing the little girl.

"Hey," he whispered to the girl, "put down your weapon." The girl didn't know how to respond. Dropping her spear would only ensure that the spiders could kill her more easily. But what other choice did she have, so she gently put down her spear.

The spiders continued to look at her for some time. Their hostility slowly dropping but their guards were well up. It was nerve racking facing a gang of spiders, especially ones that worked so well together. These were certainly different from the usual bunch she was accustomed to. The talking spider boy even stressed her out. She's been around for a while, but she never anticipated a spider to be part human.

Finally, one of the spiders stepped forward. It eyed the girl intently, and unblinking. After what felt like several minutes, the spider let out a screech. The rest of the spiders wailed as well and proceeded to walk towards the girl.

"Thanks Raven," the spider boy stated to the spider. In a short amount of time, she was swarmed with the fur of several spiders nudging against her legs. She never felt more disgusted in her life.

"Isn't that great, they like you now." The boy said to her. She returned a deadpanned gaze to his remark. The boy giggled nervously. "Oh, well...umm, our name is Webber. What's yours?" he asked sincerely.

The girl carefully stepped away from the spiders curling below her. She eyed him curiously before responding. "It's Wendy."

 **Author's note: This really took me a while to do. Life has a way of keeping people busy, whether in a positive or negative way. Either way, here is the chapter. Hope it was to your liking. Feel free to leave comments or reviews. I'm very approachable and take any form of criticism. Besides that, have a nice day!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Thanks for always being a fan, I really appreciate it. It motivates me to do my best. Onto the topic of this OC in Rooney's memory. Just do it, don't let your dreams be dreams. That's all I can say. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that your doing well!**

 **Potato Lord: I'm really glad your liking this story. I try what I consider, my best. Hope to further induce you to brilliant content in the future. Your comment fills me with Determination! Also have a chill day!**

 **Guest: I'm not gonna lie. Your comment made me search up wild turkeys on the web for at least an hour. I get really fascinated by animals quite easily. Have a styling adventure(day)!**


	10. Chapter 10: Ragtime

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 10: Ragtime

Every day was the same as the one before. Time was only a thoughtful concept with no meaning. A manmade measurement for the convoluted passage of ideals fornicated by scholars. Possible seeking knowledge or purpose from this rightful hellhole we call life.

Such a word meant nothing to Maxwell, a being trapped in his own creation. Doomed to be a vessel for the dark spirits that leeched off his influence. For years, he had been held against his will. Stricken with despicable boredom , he created the vast worlds with several creatures. Using every ounce of power he was able to muster from the shadows. To indulge in his own creative fantasies. He formed comprehensive worlds of unimaginable concoctions. Only to be bound by shadows, never to move.

Never to experience life. Instead, an infuriating song haunted him for eternity. In the midst of all his boredom, he became desperate. Luring misguided souls into his worlds. He fooled countless people with his charismatic words, and empty promises. All this, for a chance of freedom.

Maxwell longed to be put out of his eternal torment. To be stripped away from his precious gift called life. Thus he swayed many to face the challenges this world had to offer. Unfortunately, there was a certain criteria needed to please the demons masking in the shadows. They wouldn't accept just anyone, only those who showed potential.

Many faced the challenges, but all had perished. Maxwell grew impatient, then he became angry. In the midst of his anger, he created wretched beasts to fight against anyone who neglected to search for his portal. Against anyone who didn't try to find a means to escape. One particular mime displeased him to no end.

That is until he met a special man. Whose curiosity reached no limit, a man of science. With what he lacked in physical strength and combat, was replaced with a sharp mind. A mind capable of efficiently utilizing the available material to survive. He was perfect.

For the first time in a long time, Maxwell experienced excitement. The feeble scientist was capable of taking his place. His natural intrusiveness would lead him to find a means of escape. Thus swiftly completing the challenges with merrymaking expertise. Maxwell was sure of it.

Except for something he didn't account for. The scientist was acquainted with another survivor.

The pyromaniac.

Their social interactions brought forth strange feelings to the puppet master. Their livelihood and companionship had amused him from the second their worlds had intertwined. He was no longer bored, but rather fascinated by their synergy. The intermixing conflict that disrupted their very lives paid a great distraction to his shriveled and petty life.

Maxwell has sent a great deal of others before their time. People whose will and mentality dwindled until their lives perished. And with them, Maxwell expressed little emotion. But these two had more, their emotions varied and they used one another to shelter their minds. The puppet master began seeing others in the same manner. From strong armed buffoons to wrinkly old hags. He even took pity on a little boy whose fate befell upon a spider he tried to befriend.

Maxwell couldn't handle it. The newfound sympathy caused him to feel guilty for his actions. He stopped tricking people into his world, and hoped no one would wonder through his portal.

Of course, it couldn't undo the damage. No. He would have to face the music.

Out from flaming pillars emerged a grown woman, holding a lighter close to her bosom. She had black hair that curled into two pigtails. A bright, red dress shirt that buttoned down and a black skirt that reached down to her knees. Her legs were fitted with dark leggings, her color scheme resembling a flame.

Next to her was a shriveled, poor excuse of a man. He sported a white dress shirt covered by a sleeveless tweed jacket. To top it off, he wore black slacks. The most noticeable characteristic from the man was his hairdo. It spiked up in wild curls defying the laws of physics.

"What's that god awful music," voiced the female.

"Looks like you reached the end of the line," Maxwell said.

The two beings focused their attention at the shriveled old man bounded to an ominous chair. The man lacked nutrition and was absurdly pale. The skin had stretched severely and hung low due to gravity's decent. He breathed slowly, and heavily.

"Not what you were expecting, I presume."

"M-Maxwell, is that you?" the gentleman questioned.

"Hello Wilson, certainly the pleasure is all mine." He bashed. " And this is the lovely Willow. My, oh my. You sure know how to pick 'em."

Willow frowned at the floundering, old man. Not wanting to humor the man with any sort of remark.

"I don't understand, why are you restrained?" Wilson questioned once more.

"Even a king is bound to the board," he replied.

"But, you were the one who sent us here. The one who manipulated us into completing your challenges." The scientist reasoned.

"Hah, challenges!" he said with a hardy laugh. "Why would I make something so redundant. Don't humor me boy."

"Don't play dumb," Willow intervened. "Every time we came a step closer, you were there to run your mouth."

"Yes, I remember correctly." He began. "But I can assure you, it was all a ruse." He said coyly. "I just played my part to please those...things."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Those shadows, the true culprits hidden behind the scenes. How else do you think I'm trapped here?" He reasoned. "I tried to warn you both. I gave you a chance, granted you would be living alone on an island. But it's not like it was any different from your original lives." He said lightly.

Willow clenched her fists in anger.

"Heck, it was better than your original lives. Food was plentiful, plenty of pigs to order around. All you had to do was stop going through the next challenges." He concluded.

"You mean that was meant as a warning," Wilson said softly. Sorrow overtook his thoughts among the hopeless situation. "Is there really no way out?"

"Sorry Wilson, but there's no use fighting it." He said solemnly. "Nothing to do but engage in conversation, it'll help the boredom slip by."

Willow stuck the man with an ax she pulled from her bag. A flash of lightning struck her hand, disintegrating the ax in the process. She flinched in pain as the lightning injured her hand a bit.

"Don't bother, I tried that several times now." He said unfazed. "They won't allow it."

"Miss Willow," Wilson blurted, "are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said catching her breath a bit. "I'm used to this sort of thing."

Wilson proceeded to reach into his backpack. From within he pulled out a healing salve. Using the substance, he lightly applied it to her burn. After doing so, he wrapped an elastic bandage covering the injury. Maxwell observed them, enviously gazing at their caring behavior towards one another. It also brought forth some bittersweet memories.

"Thanks, Wilson." She said adverting her gaze.

"Think nothing of it, Madam." He coyly responded.

"Well, what do you two want to banter about for all eternity." Maxwell said gaining their attention.

"Firstly," Willow said while walking to the gramophone, "this needs to shut up."

"Thank you, I have been listening to that song for an eternity." He said relieved.

"Hey Maxwell," Wilson jived, "what's this?" The scientist pointed to an oddly shaped opening sticking out of the ground.

"That thing's been there for a long time." He disclaimed.

"It looks like the divining rod could fit in place, don't you think." Wilson explained, firmly taking out the device from his bag.

"I wouldn't know," he said carelessly.

"Hey Maxwell," Willow peeved, "what's the deal with these shadow creatures anyway."

He stood quiet for a few seconds before answering, "I don't know what they want. They...they just watch."

Willow felt a shiver go through her spine. Meanwhile, Wilson was tinkering with the peculiar hole. A unfitted desire to experiment with the foreign rune. As a man of science, it was his duty to explore the unknown and embark with uncertainties.

"For science," he whispered. The man then plunged the rod directly into the socket, clicking in place. "It fits," he squealed.

The floor quaked in small vibrations. Frightening all those who felt its sudden presence. Once the ground was stationary, the shadow hinges keeping Maxwell in place unlocked themselves. The man, eager to break free, stood himself up and his throne dissipated through the air. A giant grin escaping his mouth as he felt freedom for the first time in years. Only to slowly melt away as his body aged rapidly. Falling to his knees, Maxwell formed a face of utter terror as his skin melted from his body. Reveling his skeletal frame. In a matter of seconds, his body decayed and became a pile of dust. Soon, nothing was left of the poor man.

Before the two survivors could react, bleak shadows spewed from the checkered tile. The dreary arms snagged Wilson and dragged him below. Disappearing without a trace.

"Wilson!" she shouted.

The woman ran towards his immediate disappearance, but the floor became warped. Willow then swirled around a vortex, one that transported her to another location.

Moments later, Wilson sprung from the floor. A throne holding him in place, struggled as he did. He could hear the hysterical whisperings of several beings inside his head. Shadows appearing and blending into the dark.

The phonograph then began to play again. Continuously emitting the same infectious song throughout his agony.

 **Author's Note: For once, I finally submitted another chapter in a short amount of time. This one is especially different from my usual chapters. But it was needed, also it was fun to make. Next chapter will continue on with Webber and Wendy. Till next time!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Wow, you reply fast. Guess I got the jump on you this time. Then again, it is the shortest chapter I've ever made for this story. But I'm really glad that your enjoying it so far. But trust me, I should be updating more frequently from now on(hopefully). Have a nice night!**

 **P.S: Before anyone even thinks about it, Maxwell is not dead. Good night!**


	11. Chapter 11: Vulnerable

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 11: Vulnerable

Among the faded skylight, Webber stood perched near the crock pot. Carefully preparing a delicate meal while gently humming to himself. The evening was quiet, with a few trinkets of nature bearing their melody through the woods. Across the fireplace sat Wendy, carefully observing the land around her. Her gaze was thorough, blandly noting the general behavior of the arachnids that inhabited the area.

The situation astounded the little girl. She had never experienced spiders on the island that were the least bit tamable. It felt unfitting, but this island never ceased to surprise her.

The boy in the distance then shifted his eyes in her direction. Her gaze never changing as her expressionless pupils stared back. He looked at her for a while before nervously twitching his head back to the food. Gently stirring its contents as Wendy continued to inspect him from afar. Webber could still feel her eyes pierce through his body. He tensed up a bit, his face slightly heating up as he stirred the food in front of him.

In a desperate attempt to avoid awkwardness he blurted, "Nice day, isn't it." The boy coyly smiled as he tilted his head in her direction. The girl showed no initial reaction to his comment. "I suppose," was all she said.

Webber nodded unconsciously as he continued to mix the crock pot in a composed rhythm. "Yeah, yup. A nice day…" he said uncomfortable. The boy averted his gaze and lightly coughed, doing his best to draw less awkward conversation. He tried his best to create the least amount of movement needed to fulfill his task. This created a flurry of strange antics and whispers under his breath. And with each second, he felt that he was presenting himself in the most unbearable way.

Wendy found his flustered behavior amusing. In the midst of his cooking, she let out a small giggle. The boy turned back and caught a glimpse of her delicate smile, lessening his embarrassed state. Taking a deep breath, he continued to prepare the meal with a bit more confidence.

"We hope you have a sweet tooth," he said abruptly. "This is our first time trying something different."

"Anything will do," she said softly.

Webber grinned unwittingly. He then prepared to serve his dish on a handmade plate out of flint and leaves. His fray of spiders circling around the boy as they smelled the sweet aroma of food.

The spiders rubbed against him, letting out low growls as they fought for his attention. Wendy stared from the distance. Once again reimagining the furry hairs grazing over her skin. The sheer thought sparked goosebumps.

The boy giggled happily at his companions as he served them their portions. Muffet wasting no time into chowing down its meal. Rapidly munching on the nectar filled morsels. The golden, sticky substance smeared all over the spider's fur.

Once Webber served them all, he made his way towards the girl. She was fixated on the spiders when he approached her. Gently smiling, he handed one of the meals to her.

She looked at him for a short moment. His eyes were gentle, happily offering her food with a little smirk. She accepted the plate from his hands, a smile forming on her mouth.

"Thanks," she said.

Webber sat down next to the girl, a sense of wonder washing over his body. With careful hands, he began eating the honey nuggets. The sweat ivory driven tang of honey nectar filled his taste buds. It melded well with the sturdy meat, applying a soft texture that melts upon touch. The boy savored the sweet flavors that traversed in his mouth.

"It's good," Wendy said abruptly.

The boy turned to her. His eyes were beaming, and his lips were coated with a thick layer of honey. Suddenly, he let out a huge smile. His teeth were let bare, sharp and rigid. They were covered horrible in a gooey substance, taking attention away from his abnormal teeth.

"Thanks," he said brightly.

The response sparked genuine animosity. Wendy looked away from him, her expression changing a bit. Her eyes seemed distant, her face almost sullen with confusion.

She had spent much time alone. The only form of contact she still recognizes, is of Abigail. In turn, she struggled to react properly to his response.

Webber continued to happily eat his meal. Letting out joyful remarks as he sat near the girl. The girl couldn't help but respect her companion. Even when logged into a dark, foreboding world. He could find the means to smile and retain his child like behavior. She smiled unknowingly. But it disappeared just as fast.

"What happened to you?" she said in a light voice.

The boy stopped eating, a look of confusion spread across his face. He didn't answer right away, silently pondering the question. Calmly clearing his throat, he said, "What do you mean?" The boy's voice was low and rigid.

Wendy's face was unnerving, almost distraught. Her gaze still facing away from his eyes. A brisk breeze flowed through the area, enforcing shivers across Webber's body.

Slowly, the girl turned her head. She stared at the boy with rattled eyes, "I mean," she started, "What brought you here?"

Webber stared intensely back. A bit flabbergasted at the sudden remark. He opened his mouth for a reply, but no words came out. He adverted his gaze, displaying an expression of deep thought. He thought about all that has happened till now. The struggles and hardships. The accomplishments and success. 'Why are we here?' he thought.

The boy rotated his head once more, the girl keenly fixated on him. Carefully waiting for a response.

"Well," he said sheepishly, "to be honest. We're not sure." Webber arched his body forward, applying his elbows against his knees as he sat. Looking forward he said, "All we remember is waking up, feeling queasy." He scoffed, gently smirking. "There was a voice," he remembered.

"A voice," the girl said slightly aroused.

"Yeah," he said turning to her. "We were a bit delirious, but…" he said stagnating, "it sounded almost like, a man."

"A man," she whispered. "Did you get a look of how he looked?" she asked.

Webber thought about it for a moment. He concentrated for a few moments, blurred images ran through his head. He let out a sigh, "No, not really. We don't even remember what he said," he said with a slight chuckle.

"He was a tall man," she said passively.

Webber looked back at her, "What?"

She gazed at him with a peaceful face, "The man you heard, he was quite tall." The boy stared intently, carefully listening to her words. "He wore a striped suit, said some lame advice in a condescending voice." She then looked at Webber rather serious, "Then he vanished into thin air."

Webber took a few moments to process her words. "You met him too," he said shocked.

"I guess so," she said quickly, "he brought us into this world." She turned away from the spider boy, "fooled by presumptuous temptations."

Webber was speechless, he couldn't think of anything to say to her.

"Do you remember how you were dragged into this world?" she said soberly.

He didn't respond, just gazed at the ground below him. His throat began to swell up, desperately trying to remember his past.

"Not really," he said softly. "We remember who we are, but anything beyond that…it's as if it was stripped away from us."

"Really," she answered sincerely. "you don't remember."

Webber rubbed his head. Clearing his throat, he said, "No, we just remember waking up here. Not sure how, or why?"

The girl waited for another response. Unknowingly, she gazed at his unique physique. His body engulfed in black, spiky hairs. The protruding limbs sticking out of his head, and his multiple eyes that seemingly wondered the forest.

"Did you always look like that?" she let loose.

The boy turned his head rapidly, facing her direction in an instant. Wendy's eyes widened a bit, her mouth open slightly. "Sorry, it was nothing." She whispered facing away from him.

"No, it's okay." He said quickly. "It's not that big of a deal." Webber let out a smile with tender eyes. Wendy gazed at his face through her peripherals. Upon seeing his cheerful expression, she slowly met his gaze. His eyes beamed with genuine animosity.

"We weren't always this way," he began. "We weren't always together. I was once an ordinary boy." His face was softening.

Wendy faced the boy with sudden curiosity. Her eyes were stern, her face deviating to a baffled expression.

"We were so confused," he continued. "It took time to process what was happening. We…well, I remember living a life with my parents. Granted it wasn't the best sometimes, but I tried to make the best of it. Then suddenly…we were here. Stranded on an island. No memory of the day before. How we got here. Why we were here." Webber's tone slowed down and shifted to a lower volume. "I didn't even understand why we looked like this. Suddenly, I was part spider. I could hear a voice inside my head. Giving me guidance, even strength. I could feel…feel it as a part of me." Webber stopped for a moment.

The boy looked at his hands earnestly, then balled them up into fists.

"It sounds strange but, there is someone else inside me. It's not just me in this body, I feel a connection between it. Allowing me to interact with other spiders. Even now I could feel its influence." He faced Wendy, content with his response.

The girl glared back, she said no words. Her face held no applicable response, blandly gazing back at the convivial boy. Webber grew anxious as seconds passed on with no verbal form of a remark. The boy tilted his head, away from her direction. He began scratching his head in embarrassment. He opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by the girl.

"So that's why you say that."

"Huh"

"When you introduced yourself," she explained, "you used the word 'our'."

"Oh, yeah." He chuckled nervously. "Guess we did."

"You don't seem bothered by your body."

"No, of course not."

"That's good," she said. Slowly gazing at the fire.

Webber gazed at her. Suddenly noticing her distinct physique. He noticed her blonde hair, the ends of her hair strands being frizzy. She had a small frame, such as delicate hands and thin limbs. Her skin tone resembled the white saturation of the moon, pale even against the darkened sky. She wore a thick, green vest. Heavily encased in some fashion of fur. Along with the sweater wear, she sported a red skirt that measured down to her knees. Long, striped knee socks covered the entirety of her leg. And most noticeable, she wore a flower like bow that tied up her hair. She had two of them splitting her hair into two sides and another on her top right.

Wendy's eyes drifted away from the fire, slowly glaring at Webber once more. The boy, just realizing he had been staring at her the whole time, abruptly shifted away from her pupils. It was amidst his bashful behavior when a giant spider tackled him.

He took the full force of a yellow-striped beast. Instantly slobbering his face with its moist tongue. The boy, dazed by the sudden impact, tried his best to contain his laughter.

"Hey, Muffet!" he said chuckling, "sto-stop it."

Soon he was swarmed by several other spiders. All of them compacting on top of the boy, nibbling on his fingers and ears.

Wendy watched from afar, keen on staying her distance from the madness. Shifty patterns of movement were heard from her left side. Right beside her stood one of the spiders, calmly staring at her.

Upon eye contact, the spider casually lifted its legs a few inches to the girl. In return, Wendy slid her body in the opposite direction. The spider impeded its movements, carefully analyzing the girl.

"Oh, there's Raven." A voice from behind boomed.

Wendy transfixed her sight towards Webber who was standing behind her. Below him were his gang of misfit spiders.

"Looks like Raven wanted to get to know you better," he commented.

She looked back at the spider, blatantly peering at her. It cautioned little action.

"I'm not too fond of spiders," was all she said.

"Awww, don't be such a party pooper." He mocked. "How could you not love this little fella?" Webber picked up Fobia with both hands. He then proceeded to primly show off the little arachnid by advancing it towards her face.

She looked hard at the thing. The creature articulated soft gurgles of noise as it laid afloat in the air. Her eyes then transferred to Webbers. He had a giggly smirk smothered across his face.

"How charming," she said with a hint of sarcasm.

Webber brought Fobia closer to his face, "Don't worry Fobia, she'll warm up to you. She'd be crazy not to." The spider purred in acknowledgment.

Gradually, the orange shade of the night sky wavered. The constant void of darkness dispersed any tone of color around the area. The trees and forestation lost in the somber tinge of nightfall.

"It's nighttime already," Webber said sadly. The boy set Fobia on the ground, then added a heap of firewood onto the pit. The fire slowly ate away at the wooden logs, encasing it in an obscene clasp.

The spiders below sauntered to their spider nest. Huddling close together near the spider nest for warmth against the nighttime chills.

"Don't worry Wendy, we'll make you a bed."

"That's okay, I can make my own." She said standing up. "Do you have any grass?"

"Yeah, it's mostly in the chest."

Swiftly, the two made their separate beds under the tarp. The fire was close enough to emanate a soothing sensation of heat.

Webber took no time to make himself comfortable. He quickly snuggled himself up with an improvised blanket out of dry grass. The nights had been getting colder after each day, making the need for more warmth.

Before Wendy lied down in her bed, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a delicate looking flower. With tender caution, she placed the flower near her.

Webber eyed the flora with curiosity. Without thinking, he asked, "Why do you carry that around?"

The girl stopped her actions for a second. She eyed the blossom with a dainty expression.

"Before all this," she began, "I had a twin sister."

Webber gasped at the remark, but he tried his best to be inaudible. He continued to listen, carefully intrigued.

"She died."

Her words flowed smoothly. No hesitation, no stutter.

Webber couldn't respond, he was strongly appalled. The confession was so sudden, there was little time for him to process the declaration. The pupils of his eyes shrunk as his face struggled to fully concatenate his emotions.

"This flower is what connects me with her," she said gaining his attention. Her eyes were set on the flora on top of her palms. She caressed the blossom with the tips of her fingers, gazing upon it with tranquil ambiguity.

A singe of guilt ingrained itself in the consciousness of Webber's mind. Slowly encasing around his self-conscious poise, gradually feeding off the indiscretion. Carelessly, his eyes streamed damp tears down his cheek. He could feel his throat suffocating through the heavy air pulsating through his lungs.

Wendy heard the low whimpers from his unsettled sobbing. Carefully standing up she said, "What's wrong?"

The boy faced her head on, his subtle crying building up upon eye contact. "We're…sowwey," he whispered.

"What. Why?."

"We didn't, mean to." He sniveled any mucus dangling off his nose. "Remind you, of something, of something, so…"

"Hey, listen to me." She got close to him, kneed down to his level. "It's okay. Hey, look at me." He halted his groans. "I'm fine, there's nothing to be sad about. I still have her flower remember, her memory lives on inside it. In a sense, we're still connected." She looked at him with a serious expression, though mild in severity.

Webber looked at her clam state, a surge of comfort enveloping his chest. He wiped away his tears, drying up his face.

"Thanks," he said slightly embarrassed, "guess I got a bit emotional."

Wendy found herself letting out a sigh. "It's alright, Abigail used to be the same way."

"Abigail?"

"That's my sister's name."

"Oh, it's a very nice name."

She nodded. Standing herself up, she made her towards her bed. As she got herself comfortable, Webber observed the fire.

'Should be enough for the night' he thought to himself.

"It's been a long night," he began. "We should probably get some rest."

The girl nodded in the comforts of her grass bedstead. The boy laid himself on his back, fully emerging himself with the coarse comforter.

"Hey Webber," she said suddenly.

"Uh, yeah Wendy."

"I've been meaning to ask," she stated. There was a slight pause, Webber waited for her to speak again. "That injury you have covered, how did it happen?"

Webber was stunned by the oddly timed question. "What, this." He said looking at his torso, "it's nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing," she sharply retorted.

"Well, maybe not nothing." He nervously fidgeted. "But, definitely not something to worry about."

She eyed the little boy, not fully convinced from his verbal statement. Then she eyed the withered down appendage wrapped around his waist. There was an abundance of layers covering a large area, a honey like ooze coming off the edges. She eyed him once more, and in turn he adverted his eyes.

Letting out a small sigh she said, "It's okay if you don't want to tell me. Good ni−"

"Pigs," he said in a low voice.

"Wha−"

"It was pigs. We got in a huge fight with them. It wasn't our fault, they wouldn't leave us alone. They, they didn't like us. We tried to ignore them, we thought it would be okay. If we just left them alone, they wouldn't bother us. But…but they came to us. We had to fight, to defend ourselves. So we fought, and then, and then…and then." Tears came rushing back to the fragile boy.

The soft scampering of a spider could be heard coming from nearby. A small spider had woken up by the boy's distress. The spider made its way towards his lap, verbalizing small sounds as it cuddled the boy.

Webber took a deep breath to keep his cool. Slowly regaining his composure, he reconciled with the arachnid. "It's okay Fobia, there's nothing to worry about." He then turned towards Wendy who observed him with a supple, weary expression. "Sorry for that, we don't mean to stress you. It's been a long day, we should get some rest."

The girl nodded lightly in agreement.

"Goodnight," he said. The boy placed the dainty spider near him, resting beside it.

"Goodnight."

Wendy covered herself to her shoulders and faced the other way. A strand of silence followed as the night progressed throughout the island. The gentle cracks of sparks and wavering fire were the most audible element. Amidst the comforting night, Wendy explored her inner thoughts. Then dismissed them into the obscure depths of her subconscious mind.

 **Author's Note: Wow, it has been a long time. I really wanted to work on this over the summer, except I lost all the notes to my story. It compiled very minute details that augmented how I would present each situation. I haven't updated for that sheer reason. It was extremely difficult to come back and write this story. But here it is. So from now on, chapters will come out when they do. Sorry for the long wait, but I really appreciate anyone who is still reading this. Have a great day!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Thanks for being such an active viewer to this story. I'm sorry I've been inactive lately, but I'll do my best. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I particularly felt that this contained a wide variation of dialogue and emotions. All things I struggle with, but I toughed it out. I hope your faring well!**

 **Potato Lord: I'm glad you've been keeping up. I still have a good idea as to how the plot will unfold and such. I hope to keep you interested in the upcoming chapters. Have a fantastic day!**

 **Pegasisterheadphones: Really sorry I haven't wrote about these precious babies in over two months. Hopefully I'll have more time to write, really glad you're enjoying it so far. Let your day be blessed with positive events!**


	12. Chapter 12: Treatment

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 12: Treatment

Wendy sat near the fire, silently contemplating to herself. On top the fire, she had crafted a small kettle, mainly for the purpose of boiling water. She also had taken it upon herself to cook their meals. Ravishing a few carrots from the farm as she mixed it in with hardy meat.

As she waited for the water to cool down, she rolled her eyes towards Webber. Sound asleep, yawning away with three spiders huddled close to him. The spiders must have moved to him sometime during the night.

Focusing back onto the kettle, she continued to ponder to herself. Basking in the warmth of the sun. Inviting a delightful pleasant sensation, greatly appreciated since the night before had been quite cold.

The girl then eyed the ground below her, not shifting her movements whatsoever. Close beside her, was the ever so fragile flower. Opposed to its encased state just the other day, the small bud was beginning to branch out. Its petals were no longer lackluster in color, and was obtaining an orange hue.

Wendy continued to focus on the progressing bud. Gently caressing the silky petals with the bare minimum of contact with her fingertips.

The day was silent, not even the chirping of birds was present. The only audible presence in the area was the boiling of water and food. Wendy's sense of hearing adapted to lower sounds. Enough so to even hear Webber's soft breathing as he lay asleep just a few yards away from her. The girl was surprised that the spiders huddled around him didn't make much noise while sleeping.

Soft footsteps were then heard close by. Wendy turned towards the source of the sound. She was then face to face with one of the spiders that were sleeping by the spider den. It had somehow made its way towards her without her even noticing.

The spider eyed her curiously, observing how she would act. Wendy showed no initial reaction, but didn't shift her gaze away from the spider for a single second. She desperately stood still, hoping that the spider would lose interest.

After several moments, the large arachnid inched one of its legs closer. In turn, Wendy slid her body slightly away from the creature. Upon her retreat, the spider stopped its motions. Once the girl stood still, the spider continued to inch closer.

Wendy, determined to avoid any physical contact with the thing, continued to drift away from its advancements. This continued for a few minutes.

Suddenly, the spider had caught her by surprise and sped its movements. In less than a second, the spider stood on her lap.

Her general reaction would be to slap the beast off her body as quick as possible. However, the creature's affiliation with Webber stopped her from causing the thing any harm. Thus, she did nothing.

The spider eyed the girl with the same curious look it had all this time. Softly sniffing the girl as she nervously sat strikingly still. After a while, the spider let out a screech. Then proceeded to curl up on her lap, almost in a sleeping position.

The screech gained the attention of Webber, who slightly groaned and cracked his eyelids open. He somberly shifted his head to see Wendy frantically sitting by the fire. Almost unconsciously, he drifted back to sleep.

Wendy grew annoyed. She could barely take the sensations of prickly hairs contacting her skin.

"Webber!" she said quite loud.

"Huh, wha-," the boy hysterically moved about as he woke up. This shuffled the spiders close to him as they began to wake up as well.

"Oh, good morning." He said as he tiredly rubbed his eyes.

Wendy had a stoic expression as she waited for him to take notice. The boy yawned heftily, scratched his back. Then met her at eye level. He was particularly calm as he looked at her. For a while, he didn't take notice. Simply enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

Wendy eyed him with slight annoyance. She shifted her eyes towards her lap, then back to him. As she did this, Webber's eyes widened with playful excitement.

"Oh my God! That's so cute," he beamed. Wendy didn't retaliate with a response but only waited.

"Raven snuggled with you, that's so precious." He continued.

"I am not enjoying this," she finally retorted.

"Oh, don't lie. You love it." He teased. "Looks like you have a new best friend."

Wendy took a deep breath, "Just please take this thing off me."

"We don't know, it seems that Raven really likes you. We're kind of jealous, Raven took a liking to you really fast." He said with a smile.

"Well, I don't like…it." She emphasized.

"Awww, don't be so sour." He kneeled beside them. "Just look at her, she looks so comfortable."

"It's a girl?" she questioned.

Webber looked at the spider, deep in concentration. "You know, we're not really sure. We never really thought about it." He rested his fist on his chin, "Spiders usually have slight differences from their appearance to find out their gender, but so far they all kind of look the same."

"How fascinating," Wendy coyly replied, "could you take Raven off me now."

"Then again, Muffet looks way different. So maybe that's how their different."

"Okay Webber, that's great and all but-"

"Females are typically bigger so, Muffet must be a girl." He happily concluded. "But then that would mean that everyone else is a boy, even Raven."

"Webber."

"Huh," he said looking back at her.

"Just please get this spider off me."

With a small pout, the boy lifted Raven off her. The spider fidgeted its legs a bit.

"How are you this morning Raven?" Webber asked. The spider screeched back in placid acknowledgement. "Don't mind Wendy, she's being a sourpuss."

"A giant spider was on top of me, did you expect me to shout out in glee," she retorted.

"Yes, spiders are so precious!" he quickly defended.

Wendy eyed him dumbfounded. He started snuggling with the arachnid, squeezing it quite tightly. The spider let out groans of discomfort as the boy hugged him tightly. She smiled.

"I'll go check on the food, it should be ready by now." She said before standing herself up.

"You made food, uh. Thanks, Wendy." He said shyly.

The girl didn't respond, but made her way towards the crockpot. Webber placed Raven down, "Go wake up the others, we're surprised they didn't smell the food." Webber then cheerily made his way towards the girl.

"So, what'd you make?" He asked.

"Nothing special," she answered simply, "it seems you ran out of honey. So, we won't be having what you made the other day."

"We could always just get some from the bee box," Webber said remembering the sweet bliss of the candied meat.

"No."

"Huh, but wh-"

"You need that for your wound, remember your priorities." She said quite coldly. The boy looked down at his chest, once again remembering the laceration splitting across his rib.

"What, this." He scoffed. "We barely even noticed it, it doesn't even hurt anymore." She eyed him carefully.

"How long ago did that happen?" she questioned.

"Uh, a w-week if we remember right." He lied.

She continued to stare at him, observing his squeamish behavior. "Let me see it."

"See it," he said shyly.

"Yes, I need to know if its healing correctly." She continued.

"We mean, what about the food. Didn't you say it was just about done," he said trying to change the subject.

"It still needs more time. Either way, that can wait." She said getting closer to him. "Now sit." With both her hands, she pushed down his shoulders and forced him to sit down on the ground.

"Geez, no need to be so pushy." He responded awkwardly.

"Oh, don't be such a baby." Without hesitation, she started carefully unwrapping the appendages strewn around his waist. The syrup stained bandages contained small strands of grass and stuck to his black fur. Upon closer examination, she noticed that his coat had been unkempt. Hardened honey absorbed dirt and muck to form tough and heavy clots of hair throughout his body. Fortunately, she had the grace of being accustomed with foul odors for he emitted a terrible stench.

"When was the last time you took a bath," she stated harshly.

"A bath, uh well. It's been like…a week." He lied. The boy hadn't bathed himself during his entire stay in the island.

"That's gross." The comment hurt the boy a little inside. "You need to take care of yourself more." Wendy was coming close to viewing the gash from under the wrappings. "Another thing, just because you wrap your wound with a lot of poultice doesn't mean it'll heal faster. Dummy." Finally, with quick motions, she pulled the rest of it off.

Upon first viewing, Wendy could see that this injury was no mere fluke. His left ribcage had two enormous tear-like wounds that stretched across several inches. His skin clearly sliced cleanly as his inner flesh laid out in the open. There was no sign of bleeding, but the skin showed little sign of forming any scabs. This meant that the wound must have happened recently, that and poor treatment.

"This is not nothing." She said solemnly. The girl stared at the injury immensely, creating a serious atmosphere. Webber just stood quiet, unwilling to comment. Wendy escaped in her inner monologue. Depicting various scenarios that might have caused the incident.

"Pigs," she remembered. The girl had said the word out loud, unknowingly. Webber tensed up for a moment, expressing a somber look upon his face. His eyes slightly glistening as he breathed, almost silently.

Wendy berated herself for saying the word. Adding unnecessary stress wasn't going to help anyone.

"You did a terrible job treating yourself," she said in a lighter tone. "This won't do, I'm going to have to fix this myself."

"Fix it?" he lightly questioned.

"Yes. Luckily, I already have water boiled up." She stood herself up. "But I'm gonna need to get more honey. I'll be right back. If you can, look after the food." She quickly left without another word.

For a while, Webber didn't move. He watched her head towards the bee box, she was still within eyesight. The boy then stood himself up, and walked to the roasting food. He opened the kettle, hot steam flowing across his wrists.

"Oh jeez, that's a lot of carrots." Inspecting the meal, he noticed the abundance of carrots mixed in with the meat. At least, it was more than he would usually put.

"No wonder they didn't wake up, we don't even know if they'll eat this."

"Is the food ready," a voice said from behind.

Wendy was standing behind him, a pot lay beside her. She was also carrying her puffy vest with her, along with the necessary materials to treat his injury.

"Wow, you were quick." He said slightly amazed.

"To survive, you have to be." Working her way forward, she eyed the inside of the crock pot. "Looks about done."

"Yeah, about tha-" the boy was cut off to the stampede of spiders racing their way to them.

"Looks like your little friends are eager," Wendy breathed with a slight sigh. "Well, you could feed them."

"Well," he eyed the spiders. All seemingly eager to indulge in morning breakfast. "We guess it'll be alright." As the boy handed them their portions, their edacious behavior declined in a few short seconds. Some of the spiders sniffed their food for several moments. Muffet was the first to take a bite from the meal, for once chewing the substance rather than swallowing it whole. The spider then spit it out.

"What's wrong?" Wendy asked.

Webber let out a few nervous chuckles, "Well ya see, they don't really like vegetables. Spiders kind of, just eat meat." The boy brushed his head a bit. "Don't get me wrong, we sneak a bit every now and then. But we guess, this was just too much."

Wendy cautiously gazed at the arachnids. The large one no longer interested in the fare, while the others tried to eat past the simmered carrots. Most notably, she noticed Raven carefully separating the meat with its legs.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," she finally said.

"What will?"

"Surviving," she responded.

"Hey, it's just a meal. No big,"

"No, it actually is." She locked eyes with the boy, a serious expression implanted on her face. "Webber, you've never been through Winter. Have you?"

"Winter," he said simply, "what type of question is that. Of course-"

"No," she interrupted, "I meant, have you ever survived winter. On this island," she emphasized.

"Uh, no." He said softly.

"It's difficult, resources are incredible scarce during that time." Her gaze shifted to the spiders once more. "Meat is vital, it'll be our main source of food during the cold. Nothing else survives against nature's icy grasps."

"Well, that sounds pretty bad. But, that won't be for a couple months." He concluded, trying his best to induce positivity.

She looked at him, a gentle smile was resting on her lips. "No, we don't." Confused, Webber waited for her to speak again. "At best, we only have a few more days. Seasons are shorter on this island, they last around three weeks." She pivoted her view to the ground. "Sometimes even less."

"So, that means winter is coming soon." She nodded at the boy. Webber put his hand around his chin, doing his best to process the information.

Winter always marked the end to progression. Crops wouldn't grow, and the frigid temperatures made it troublesome to get things done. Snow is quite tedious as well.

"Hey," he said brightly, "that means it won't last as long. Think about it, winter will only last for three weeks. That's not too bad."

She looked at him for a few seconds, followed by silent chuckling. She used one of her hands to cover her mouth, shying away from her childish giggles. Webber joined in, taking advantage of her cheery behavior.

After the two recomposed themselves, Webber served them both a plate. Secondly, he cooked more meat for his spider companions.

"Guess I'll leave the cooking to you," Wendy said in a peaceful tone.

"We don't know, this tastes pretty good." He said while taking a taste of the food she had prepared.

A grin formed on her face, and Webber continued to chow away happily. His optimism was a little infectious, a good change of pace for the little girl. She hardly had times to enjoy herself, mostly opting herself to her own thoughts. Embracing the eerie delusions that divulge from these vacant woodlands. In a sense, he reminded her of Abigail.

She took small nibbles of her food. She couldn't bring herself to tell him. The relentless fury that is Winter. It may be shorter than normal, but it is much fiercer. The temperature could drop to freezing levels in a matter of minutes. Snow could reach several feet high, making it difficult for travel. Dying of hypothermia is also an extreme issue. Without the proper gear, and no source of warmth such as a fire. One may die due to extreme low body temperatures. Unfortunately, the island reaches levels beyond what they would normally experience. Being left out in the cold with no protection could lead in their deaths in only a couple of hours. But worse of all, there is the beast of winter. The one-eyed abomination.

Before she knew it, she had finished her food. A satisfied grin could be seen plastered on Webber's face. He appeared perfectly relaxed. Unaware of the impeding dangers. She let out a deep sigh, then braced herself to appear the least bit of cheery.

"Are you ready now, Webber?"

"Ready," he said as he arched his back straight.

"Yes, to fix your wound." She pulled out a rag crafted out of grass and papyrus.

"Oh, right. We totally forgot about that," he said nervously.

"Well, come closer. You expect me to carry these things to you." The boy quietly scooted closer as he foolishly failed to notice the first aid supplies beside her the entire time.

She shot him a passive look. "Closer," she said.

The boy began to heat up as he tensely came closer to the girl. Webber never experienced much interaction with other kids. Especially around girls, thus entering close distance made him slightly nervous. He drew himself nearer until he was only a few inches from her. Becoming embarrassed, he looked away. "It this enough."

"That's fine," she said as she wet the rag. Once it had been drenched, she slowly inched it near the incisions. The cloth slightly grazed the hairs of his skin. Webber twitched slightly upon initial contact, then relinquishing all movement as best he could. The cloth was quite rough, but warm. The careful rubs around his wound became soothing.

As Wendy brushed the clots of dried blood, they began to gradually remove themselves. She soaked the cloth over and repeated. Soon, the only visible abnormality were the two long lacerations.

"Okay, don't panic." She said as she reached into one of the pockets from the puffy vest. Webber, who was lost in the relaxing treatment, held no general response. That is until she brought out a long needle from the small compartment.

"Hey! What's that?" he said flinching a bit.

"It's a sewing needle I crafted ealier," she reassured, "I'm going to use this to stitch those cuts."

"What! No way," he said fearfully.

"Webber, it's okay. It'll only hurt for a second," she said trying to calm him down. "Those cuts look really bad, stitching them together will help them heal faster."

The boy appeared hesitant, thinking about the situation. After some time, he finally responded. "Fine, but wait just a minute."

"Fobia," he called out. Upon speaking, the littlest of spiders came sprawling towards him. Webber then pulled the spider close to him, gently setting Fobia on his lap. "Okay, now we're ready," he said closing his eyes.

A bit repelled from the creature being so near her, she also felt a bit touched. Thus, she began to take the needle to his incision with an immense amount of care. Webber twitched a bit from feeling the keen needle piece through his skin.

"Try your best not to move," she said faintly. He nodded as she went on. After a few minutes, and a few groans from Webber. She finished stitching the wounds, therefore slathered a small amount of honey and wrapped it carefully.

"See, that wasn't so bad."

The boy let out a deep sigh and reopened his eyes, "No, it wasn't all that bad."

"Now, I'd tell you to bathe. But you're going to have to wait until that heals up."

"Right," he rubbed his head timidly.

"This also means no drastic physical exercise," she continued. "If you find yourself in a bad situation, avoid it." She then handed him a poor misshapen cup of water. "Here, drink up. It's warm, but its drinkable."

Taking the cup, he said, "You know, there's a fresh water pond not too far from here."

"Really, why don't you store it?" she asked.

"Never needed to, we can go a couple days without water."

Impressed, she took a sip of the water then said, "Well, come winter and the pond will be frozen."

"Frozen!" he exclaimed. "It gets that cold here."

"Yes, which reminds me." She put the cup down. "We need to discuss our plans."

"Plans?"

She nodded at him once more.

…

From the empty compounds of a atramentous enriched cave. A man sat practically chained to a throne constructed by dark, fictitious shadows. Constantly being ridiculed by the whisperings of sinister entities. Not bothering to enact any form of action, recognizing the utter despair that is his ordeal.

Suddenly, something could be seen emerging from the obscure darkness. Upon more presentable features, the scientist gained a small grain of hope. And under clear confirmation of what emerged, he crafted a smile.

 **Author's Note: Okay, it's been close to three months now. Let me start by saying that I just finished my finals. That and I've been working a job because money is necessary in life. Whoever can manage work and school well has my tremendous respect. That being said, here is the chapter, I have something kind of planned but won't know until a couple days. See how work is gonna treat me. Hope you enjoyed the chapter though, dialogue takes a lot of effort. Have a wonderful day!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: I'm so glad for your patience. Could you believe it's been over a year that I started this fanfic. I planned to be finished by now, I'm not even close. And I hope I don't get writer's block, I wouldn't know how to handle it. I have a hard enough time to update this fanfic. Either way, thank you for your continued support. Also, I noticed you listed this fic on a community. I blush, truly blessed and honored. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and hope your day fares well!  
**

 **Potato Lord: I wouldn't go as far to say its in great quality. Grammar always seems to delude me. I'll definitely try my best to make this as good as it can be. And another thing, following this story will give you notifications on when it gets updated. No more constantly checking only to see I'm a terrible person for not updating. Hope you liked this one, I...I worked hard. Kind of. Have a nice day!  
**

 **Khalzkitty: I must say, I am very glad you commented. One of the most difficult things for a writer is to grab the reader's attention. Sounds obvious, I know. But it is even harder to do it with characters their not entirely interested in, same applies to genre. The first mostly applies to fanfics. That being said, I feel a bit proud that you were able to enjoy this story. But enough egotistical banter, I hope you enjoyed the story and will do my best to keep you interested. Have a lovely day!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 13: Duties

Webber fiddled away, slugging a bit behind from his plans for the day. The construction of the ice box was draining valuable time. All the necessary pieces were gathered, but they decided that a larger construction was needed in order to store meat for the winter. Wendy highly emphasized this important detail.

After much planning from the two, Wendy sought out to the savannah. Carrying her bag previously crafted, carefully sorting out the contents of her bag. She set her spear to the side along with the box thing, then turned to the boy. She handed him a football helmet, and encouraged him to wear it at all times.

In return, Webber urged the girl to take along Muffet. She strictly declined. After some banter, she settled to take Raven with her.

After assuring her safety, he then asked about the diving rod. Wendy explained it as best she could, only giving him a basic understanding of the device.

A way to traverse between worlds.

That's all the boy needed to know. He clearly didn't understand how it worked, but it's just for precaution. He learned that Wendy used the power of the rod to escape dire situations. She wasn't specific with details, but he didn't mind.

To move plans forward, she took the diving rod as she strode away. Webber was to construct the ice box, then transfer the meat so it wouldn't spoil. If he had any free time, he would then hunt for game.

Wendy didn't stress the notion, Webber had brought it up. Since his spiders held a great appetite, he wanted to have a surplus for winter. While Wendy agreed, she didn't want him endangering himself. The boy could only force his body so far with that wound hindering his health. Hence, only to hunt on the account of free time.

'Don't fight anything that will fight back.'

He had forgotten that she had said that. It seemed that she cared for the boy, if even just a little. Webber was completely awestruck by the very thought. It had been so long since he has met another person, he wasn't alone.

Even if they were stranded. On an island feign to outside knowledge. It made the world to the boy that there was at least someone to help him with his struggles. To share those struggles.

Webber was anxious, he wanted to prove to her that they could get through this. Which is why he made it a priority in his mind to hunt for food. If that's what worried her most, then he shall smite her concerns away.

"It's finally done," Webber voiced.

Beside the boy stood a mechanical box towering at a whopping eight feet tall. He wasted no time, quickly transferring the meat to the fridge. His will undeterred.

...

The noise had been getting louder. Wendy strode through the forest on her way to the savannah. She had followed Webber's instructions on how to reach the biome accordingly. But ever since the rod radiated a louder signal, she turned away from the normal path.

Raven kept following the little girl, much to her distress.

'To think he wanted me to take the biggest one,' she thought to herself.

The sound quickened in tempo. Raven let out wails against the booming device. Strictly finding its presence to be irritating.

"Don't worry, we're getting close." She said loosely. The girl then stopped her movements to consider that she had just spoken to a spider. Raven waited for her, confused at the girl's strange antics. Wendy was genuinely amazed, she had not known that they could convey such expressions.

A jolting presence was then heard from a distance. The sound wasn't coming from any of the individuals, and certainly was not the obnoxious device. As the audible thuds grew, Raven crouched down to a fighting stance. Wendy acted quickly, placing the rod on the ground as she grabbed the spider and hid under a bush.

The spider fidgeted under her grasps, rubbing its prickly hairs over her arms. She fought through the odd sensation, she wasn't looking for a fight. Best to avoid a fight if possible. Except Raven kept squealing against her tight restraint. She tried to get the spider under control, but it thrashed around more violently.

The dull crashes against the ground became more apparent. With each second that went by, it come closer. Dangerously close, and she still couldn't get the spider to calm down.

"Please, just stop." She whispered. "I'm not trying to hurt you, but you have to stay still."

Upon response, Raven mellowed down a bit. Wendy lightened her grip, in which the spider escaped from her hands and lay on her lap.

"You could actually understand," she said lightly.

Raven didn't react to her statement, but gazed at the figure that emerged from the foliage. A mechanical being stood nearby. Sporting a metal encased chest that took up most of its figure. It had thin metal legs that barely supported the weight of its body. Around its shoulders was a sheet of bronze metal acting as cape. Its head consisted of one mechanical socket and glass supporting its upper dome. Faint wiring could be seen inside its cranial fixture signifying use of electrical power.

"Bishop," she whispered.

The robot approached the divining rod propped from the ground. Its gears heavily mashing together as it strode. It gave the device a short glance before shifting its vision to the surrounding area.

Wendy did her best to shroud her presence, minimizing breathing and movements. Raven showed no sign of confrontation, and was even more silent then her. They stood a few yards away from the bishop. Luckily, the divining rod was acting as interference. The sound concealed their subtle movements. Only leaving their visibility as a liability.

The bishop continued its examination for a few minutes. It slowly turned its gaze around, enacting a full assessment through the area. As it passed the bush the two were hiding in, the girl slowly reached for her ax. The robot's gaze didn't let up, turning around in a consistent speed.

Abruptly, a bird flew in front of them. Within a heartbeat, the bishop turned and flashed a ball of energy at the flying animal. Right before their eyes, the bird crashed down. Only a few inches away from them. Its body terrible singed and showing no sign of life.

Raven had flinched from the unexpected blast, as it emitted a powerful, static sound. The spider huddled its legs closer to the girl. Wendy clenched her ax firmly, the light in her eyes becoming dull.

The bishop approached the bird it had just killed. Unknowingly approaching the other two hidden behind the bush. Metal fittings expending grisly sounds as it inched closer. The creature stood a few feet away from their position, glancing down at the carcass.

Wendy could see the robot between the openings of foliage. The machine looming over them. Her blood, boiling through her body as she handled her ax. And leaned forward. If she acted quick enough, she could go for its head and end it in one swing. She'd have to rely on her speed and strength.

Raven trembled below her. Deeply frightened by the bishop's display of power. Wendy eyed the spider quivering below her. The spider gazed back at the girl, softy huddled against her. The longer she looked, the more she hesitated to attack.

'What are you waiting for, now's your chance.' She thought. The spider still shaking against her legs. Wendy bit her lip at the sight. Untightening her grip, she used one hand to caress the arachnid. Raven froze upon her touch. The spider's body felt harsh and stiff. After a short while, Raven relaxed. Letting the girl faintly graze the hair on its head. Once calm, Wendy focused her sights on the bishop once more.

'It'll be over soon.' The girl breathed a deep breath, preparing herself to initiate an attack. Her face was passive. Her breathing slowed down, almost inaudible.

Right before she managed the resolve to fight. A second bishop was seen from the distance. Its loud thuds becoming more apparent. The girl halted her assault midway. She was squatting in midair as she pulled her momentum back, trying to maintain balance. This caused Raven to tighten its legs around her, holding on to her thighs.

The two bishops eyed each other, then the first made its way towards the second. Wendy and Raven stood still, struggling to maintain their pose. As luck would have it, they didn't take notice of them. Once they met up with each other, they turned away and left the area. Completely ignorant of the girl and spider.

Wendy stood in place until the diving rod cancelled out their thuds. She plopped on the ground allowing her legs to rest. Raven had relaxed once the robots were out of eyesight.

The girl didn't move, processing the situation.

"We got really lucky," she finally said.

She stood herself up, then grabbed the divining rod.

"We can't be here, I know what's ahead. We can't fight them by ourselves, we'll leave that for another day." She said facing Raven.

The spider let out a screech, as if agreeing. Wendy berated herself a little. Part of it was that she was having a conversation with a spider, which she still found strange. But another insecurity ate away at her conscience.

They could have died, quite easily. The mere thought twisted guilt to flow throughout her head.

She ran her fingers through her hair. The thought of death never troubled her before.

As they walked, she thought about her change in demeanor. Simply retracing their steps back to the brick road. For several minutes, they did this. But the guilt didn't go away.

She convoluted countless explanations revolving her developed and morbid personality. Deeply experimenting with each one. Then dismissed them into the obscure depths of her subconscious mind.

...

Webber treaded through the forest, spear in hand. Two spiders were following close behind, scoping around the area. Faven and Calamity were the ones scouting with the boy. They were hunting for prey.

Webber left the egg nest for Muffet and Fobia to protect. Gravely hoping that they would come to no harm by the time they came back.

The boy hadn't been out for long, they barely started their little journey. So far, Webber was able to snag a few birds with his boomerang. Most of them were chased away by Calamity. Other than that, there hasn't been any sightings of prey. There weren't many creatures he could hunt in his condition, but the boy was determined. His eyes set on the nefarious turkey.

It was the only thing large enough to be considered an achievement in his eyes. Other animals were either too large or too dangerous.

Thus, Webber was heading towards the deciduous forest. It was convenient for the boy. The area was within short distance, which accommodated for the small amount of daylight left. Even if it was a short distance, he was traveling rather fast.

Wendy would be back soon, and he didn't want her worrying too much. She might have already arrived as far as he knew.

After arriving, he rested his body to gaze at the forest. The surrounding fauna was quite vibrant this day. The leaves on the trees starting changing to a brown hue. Dead leaves were piled softly on the ground, the wind swung some of them through the air. The temperature was fresh, hardly cold.

Webber heard the playful chirping of a nearby bird. On top a tree branch, a red bird was seemingly singing away. The boy pulled out his boomerang, being careful not to disturb the bird up in the tree. The bird continued on, completely confident and assured of its safety.

Webber aimed at the bird, steadily. He didn't rush his attack, it would get away if he were to miss. Just as he pulled his arm back, a spider screeched for his attention. Causing him to misdirect the boomerang, and hitting it against the tree. The heavy whack triggered the bird's survival instincts. The bird flew up in the air, vanishing from sight in a matter of seconds.

Webber stood annoyed as Faven continued to shriek for his recognition.

"Faven, you made me miss."

The spider then treaded away some short distance and stood there.

"Now's not the time for games." He said sternly.

Calamity made way to Faven's location and gazed at the ground. In a short while, Calamity turned to Webber and joined his brother in arms. Faven started scratching the ground as if he were a dog.

"Oh, what is it?" he said as he neared the two.

After reaching the two spiders, he spotted a paw print embedded into the ground.

"No way!" Webber gasped. "Is that what we think it is?"

Reaching down to ground, he gazed at the track. "It is!" he exclaimed.

The paw print lay ingrained with three separate toes, large in size. Similar to the one before.

"It's gotta be close by, this could be it." The boy giggled joyfully. "This could be what we need."

Calamity hopped around the boy, joining in on his jubilant behavior. Faven watched them engage in playful hijinks, furrowing one of its brows.

"Wait!" he halted suddenly. "Those things fight back don't they. Wait," he said while scratching his chin, "do they?"

"We mean, we handled that koalefant pretty well last time." Calamity still pranced around the boy, softly tackling his legs as if they were playing a game.

"What do you think Faven?" he asked. The spider screeched, practically neutral in tone.

"Maybe we should word our question better," he thinly said. "Should we go after it?" Faven stretched its legs around the track and let out a wail.

"You think we should," the boy said surprised. He eyed both the spiders, none lacking conviction. "We don't know, we had the whole gang back then. We mean, do you remember how big that thing was. It was huge," he spread out his arms to emphasize the beast's size.

"But maybe you guys are right," he continued. "After all, winter is coming. But then again…" he said trailing off. "We did promise Wendy not to hunt for dangerous animals, and we're sure it'll fight back." The boy thought for a moment.

Calamity zoomed all over the place, constantly hollering and demonstrating its vitality. Faven waited for the boy.

"Alright," Webber said while catching Calamity dash by, "we'll track it. But we're not fighting it."

The spider wailed in distress. Leaping from Webber's hands, the arachnid darted back in forth.

"No BUTS," he declared. "We'll find what we're looking for, then head back to camp. After we get Muffet and Fobia, we can just go back to where we saw it. Foolproof," he said confidently.

His smile faded a bit, his brows scrunching together as he thought. "Unless Wendy's there, she'd probably stop us."

They boy glanced at his fuzzy friends, who were all too eager to track the beast.

"Guess we better hurry."

 **Author's Note: I'll try to be concise. I started school again and I work a job so my free time is very minimal. Don't expect frequent releases, but I'll try my best.**

 **Okay, I will answer some questions that were asked. Thank you for those who commented. First, the duration of this fanfiction. I planned it to be around 40 chapters, it might be more now. Next, the topic of the hound attacks. These attacks happen periodically in-game, but not for my story. They act as natural animals that reside in a normal habitat and hunt in packs in various locations. Encounters are random, unless a third party interferes.**

 **Other than that, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's really just build up, but I can assure you it's important. Have a fantastic day!**

 **Wait, I almost forgot. Thanks to all those who commented. It's definitely crazy how much comments I received. I appreciate all of you and will have you know that I read them either right away or once I get a hold of my phone. Thanks again.**

 **Forgot about the shipping comment, but I'm lazy. If you're interested in ship(romance) related info, read the comment I left for fieryheart959.**

 **Aslo, didn't have the chance last time. But I hope you had fantastic holidays!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: It may not be much, but this chapter's out. This is really looking into a long fic, I hope I can finish soon. And I'm glad you're liking their interactions, cuz it's actually really fun writing them. I love their polar personalities! Webber is childish, and Wendy is morbid. It's perfect! Hope you're doing well!  
**

 **Reiss82: Deerclops, I don't see no deerclops. Nope, don't know what you're talking about. All of Webber's precious babies will be fine *sweats nervously***

 **St3alth: I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I remember the day I got an email saying you followed my story, such happiness was bestowed upon me. I'm really glad you've been keeping through, true mvp. I hope you'll like what's in store in the future. Have a splendid day!**

 **Potato Lord: Yo, it's still Winter right. It still fits right, cuz I wanted to write that arc around the same time. Experience the cold! But that seems unlikely now. Also, thanks for commenting on Christmas! Read it right away. I enjoyed my time with a billion relatives. I hope you had great noms as well!  
**

 **Khalzkitty: Yo, you called it. Wendy will bond with some of the lil snobs. But she will accept their love! Maybe. And you go strong. Working and school is enough to drive someone mad. Hang in there, life is tough. Sometimes evil. But struggle now to thrive later or...I'm not very inspirational. But if you can do it, then I'll try just as hard. Good luck with work and school!  
**

 **Fieryheart959: I'm glad you think it is! Sometimes, I do good. As far as shipping goes. It's not my intended focus to ship the two together. However, someone once told me, "If you need them to kiss to know their in love, then there not." So...who knows, maybe the ship will happen. Only time will tell.**

 **Miss-DNL: If you've caught up by now, I just want to say I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. There's so much more that will happen. And when it does, not even I will be ready.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 14: Prey

A sharp squeal sounded threw the air. Wendy held a rabbit in hand, lifeless as she untightened her grip. With tender care, she stripped the animal down to a morsel. And after storing it away, she made her way towards the next trap.

The girl had reached the savannah. And under instruction from Webber, began maintaining the traps set beforehand. Near some rabbit holes stood three mediocre traps, with one wasting away due to poor maintenance.

Wendy was now onto the third one. It scuffled about, thrashing away at the trap forged from grass. As the girl neared, Raven approached it from the other side. With the spider only a few inches from the trap, she lifted one side. Her pupils focusing at the opening, unblinking.

The rabbit dashed towards the exit in a flash, desperate to escape. Not even a second passed by as the girl snagged the lower body of the animal. It squealed upon touch and violently moved its limbs to escape.

Just as the girl was losing grip, she clenched her other hand against its throat. Halting any momentum the prey had achieved. Raven screeched loudly and shuffled in place. Genuinely content and impressed by the girl's third successful capture.

She smiled faintly, "Practice pays off." She turned to the stirring arachnid, allowing a sense of pride to enter her mind. Which quickly diminished as she remembered her companion was a spider.

Focusing back to the rabbit in hand, she allowed it to squirm about. Slowly depriving itself of its energy. The adrenaline dropping. And after no assurance of escaping, finally submitted to the will of its captor.

She gazed at the creature. Its breathing slowing down as it stopped its movements. As it gradually calmed down, the girl snapped its neck.

…

Webber strode through the forest, slouched low to the ground. Spear held with both hands, occasionally looking back at Calamity and Faven. Reassuring himself that they were following close by. Their steps were silent, and slow. They used the underbrush and trees to hide their bodies. And gently traversed through the woods.

Few tracks were found, directing them to strange locations. Their leisure movements causing large gaps of time between each new track. The prints often crossed paths, pointing to the same location as the other. The boy couldn't tell which to follow, resulting in futile stalking and a wisp of uncertainty.

Using what little they could gain from the prints, they carefully tracked them. The lack of progress hindered the group, as time seamlessly withered away. While the rare discovery of a new print renewed their fragile determination.

The immense silence encompassing a feral environment. The leaves of the trees could be heard blowing against the wind. The trees radiating a sense of life as they touched the hard, oak wood. An intoxicating feeling of nature at its natural state. Pulsing deep within Webber as his senses reacted keenly to the environment.

More tracks were found, looking recent. Signaling his companions to come near, he observed the ground filled with multiple paw remnants. He felt the ground with his fingers, sliding them across the softened earth. They were smaller than the one before. Some were deeply ingrained into the earth, and typically the size of his palm.

They were certainly fresh, and abundant. But a different creature from what they had in mind. As the boy further investigated the scene, his eyes widened.

Deep howls were heard, severely close to initial position. A profound shutter of fear beamed through the boy's spine as he recalled the familiar sound.

"Hounds," he said abashed.

In a panicked manner, he signaled his spiders to follow him. Swiftly, but diligently jogging away from the cries of the hounds. As the scuffling of legs could be heard from the distance, he quickened his pace.

Calamity struggling to keep up, cried out to the boy. Webber was quick to pick up the tired spider as they ran away from peril. Faven advancing in front of the boy as the spider began leading the way. They traveled fast for a few minutes, the sound of howls fading in the distance.

With every decline in volume, the boy experienced a sense of relief.

Until they came upon a massive creature. A beast eyed them both intently as they stopped only a couple of feet in front of it. It sported a thick, black coat consisting of rough, prickly hairs. It had four short legs, disproportionate with the rest of its colossal figure. Its head abnormally huge, capable of swallowing a turkey whole. Maybe even a small kid like himself. Several sharp teeth inhibited its gaping mouth, a few of them as large as his hand. Its eyeballs were void of pupils. The white in its eyes changing to red as it snarled at them.

The large beast let out a thundering howl against the peaceful air. Vibrating through the confides of the trees, echoing back and forth.

Faven inched back from the beast, never shifting its gaze away from it. Calamity growled aggressively in response, trying to wiggle out of Webber's tight grip. The boy merely stood still, keen on staying alive.

From the distance, howls could be heard nearing their destination. Rapid steps crashing against the ground. Tearing away the tranquil peace the forest seemed to exude. Only the booming galloping of monsters could be heard quaking the ground below them.

Fear incapacitating the boy.

…

Wendy strode down a brick path, Raven by her side. Her backpack had been stuffed to the brim with a large amount of grass. Thus, she carried her ax with one hand.

They had been walking back to camp for quite some time now. Which typically consisted of a peaceful journey back. She gazed at the peaceful setting for some time, securing her sights on a bird returning to its nest.

The bird seemed to have hatch-lings waiting for her. The little hatch lings pried their mouths open, awaiting their mother. In which the mother fed them freshly caught worms.

"It's funny, don't you thing." She said while observing them. Raven turned its attention towards the girl, still walking through the path.

"The little birds look grateful, they get to eat and live another day." She continued. "But for the worm, it means the end to its life. Do you see the humor in this?" Wendy turned her head to Raven. The spider looked at the girl intently.

"It is the same case for the mother bird," she began peacefully, "if we were to hunt and eat it. Then we would be grateful and live another day. But to the bird and hatch-lings, it would spell disaster. And in this world, anyone can fall victim to it." She looked back at the nest, the chirping of small birds flooding the silence.

The sun began to cross the land, providing less visibility to the land. Nightfall would be coming soon.

"Nature encourages this, the cycle of death."

…

Webber stood shockingly still, subjected to the growl of a towering beast. Faven tried to gain his attention, constantly screeching at him. As the howling increased in volume, the spider bumped into the boy's legs. Hoping to generate a response, but the boy wouldn't budge.

Calamity tried its best to escape the boys locked grasp, even battering around aggressively. The boy's iron grip hands wouldn't let go, unintendedly hurting the spider amid its struggle.

As the beast moved forward, it dominated Webber with its presence. Its growl was harsh and repugnant. Snarling gaudy sounds as if it were an engine, booming with ferocity. Its eyes glaring into his body, burning him with its gaze. Time passed by in slow increments, the emergence of primal fear had increased his cognizance of his natural senses. Profoundly isolating himself to his inner conscious, which plagued him with memories of past.

He had been in situations just like this, countless times. But every situation was filled with new experiences, new grievances. In the time of such dire situations, his survival instincts took over. His need to live, and his thirst to thrive. But there was something else, something strong.

He failed once, not again.

The beast lunged at him, widening its jaw to chew threw his body. Webber darted low to the ground, towards his left. Dodging the beast was easier than he initially thought.

Without haste, he sprinted away. Doing his best to run away from all the peril, Calamity still in hand. Without looking back, he called out to Faven, "Run back to camp!"

The spider was beside the beast, low to the ground. Before joining Webber in their escape, Faven tore through the creature's front leg. Mildly damaging the flesh, and drawing blood to seep through its wound.

It thrashed around upon incision, nearly stomping on the spider as it fled the scene. As the creature regained its footing, a pack of hounds rushed by. Three of them giving chase as the large hound let out an earsplitting cry. The sound carried through, encouraging the hounds to hunt down their prey. Then it ran towards their direction.

Webber kept running at breakneck speed, exhausting most of his energy to go back to camp. As Calamity murmured softly, the boy thought of Faven. A grave thought of worry flushed the boy as he called out to the spider.

Shortly, he saw the frantic arachnid rushing to him. Followed by three vicious hounds following behind. One of the hounds closing in on the spider, astoundingly close behind. The sight of Faven close to danger evoked a substantial anger towards the hounds.

Without thinking, he pulled out his boomerang and aimed it at the protruding hound. With just a short amount of time, he aimed the weapon to its torso. Careful not to strike Faven by accident.

The boomerang flew across, dexterously thrusting deep inside the inner thigh of the hound. It crashed forward with a high-pitched cry, rolling furiously across the ground. It bruised most of its body when slamming against the outgrown roots from the trees.

The other two hounds stopped in their tracks for a moment. This allowed Webber and the gang to create distance between them. A loud howl called, beckoning the other two dogs to continue following them.

The one with a boomerang lodged in its thigh used its mouth to pry it off. Causing it to cry out in pain even louder as blood stained its fur. The larger hound caught up to it as it was licking its wound. With just a single wail from the giant beast, and the hound stood itself up to continue chase.

Limping on one leg as it tried to keep a constant pace with the larger animal.

…

Wendy stopped by the pond before returning to the camp. Slightly leaning her head down to take a drink from the fresh water.

Fish were barely visible several feet under the surface of water. Raven lay nearby gazing at the fish swim effortlessly across the pond.

"We should head back now," she said finishing her drink. The spider screeched in agreement, standing itself up. Together, they walked to the site. Expecting Webber and crew to be dancing around, making a fool out of themselves. Wendy scoffed at the bizarre thought.

In little time, they entered their humble abode. A nicely crafted ice box stood out from the camp, followed by two spiders near the den. They kept pacing around, almost fidgeting.

Wendy looked around once more, the boy was nowhere to be seen. That and a couple of spiders were missing as well. She stood still, processing what was in front of her.

The spider warrior took notice of them and to their direction. Along with a petite spider by its side. Meeting with them, they screeched frantically. Looking around as if expecting more.

'Okay, we'll be careful. We won't fight anything dangerous.'

His voice echoed through her head, almost as if he were right beside her. Suddenly, a savage roar was heard in the distance. A voice familiar to the girl.

"That idiot," she said barely audible.

Without a moment to lose, she dropped her bag to the floor. With a tight grip of her ax, she ran to the sound of the roar. A pack of spiders following behind.

…

They were out of the deciduous forest now, closing in near the brick path. There were minimal trees while they ran, making it easier to run. But made them blatantly visible to their enemies, who were tailing close behind.

Webber was losing focus, almost out of breath. It had been quite some time since his last meal, and the constant running was now backfiring. Faven also showed signs of fatigue.

They passed the brick path quickly, hoping to enter the forest for more coverage. While speeding through, Webber stumbled on his feet. Falling on the ground and tossing Calamity in the air. The football helmet broke his fall and they both rolled on the ground. Quickly, they fought to gain their footing to run once more.

However, Webber had the wind knocked right out of him. He struggled to breath in air as he forced his body to traverse through the woods. His chest burning, legs aching. A hint of nausea cascaded through his cranium as he struggled to run. His pace slowing.

Exhausted, he fell to the floor. Energy completely wiped out from his pores, and the boy took rapid, short breaths. Faven stopped and screeched at him. Webber tried getting up, hoisting himself to one knee. Calamity growled behind the boy, the hounds had caught up to them.

Faven stood in front of the boy, doing its best to sound intimidating. The dogs neared, casually approaching their prey with vicious growls.

Webber tried recovering from his pitiful state. Raising his other knee as it quivered to enact movement. His body looked frail and depleted but his eyes burned with passion. With his entire body shaking, he stood himself up. The abnormal movements of the boy caused the hounds to stop in place. As he turned around to face them, he fell to the ground. He coughed violently against the ground, his shoulders couldn't stop twitching. Once more he began to lift himself, his body strongly rejecting his commands.

Finally, the varg arrived at the scene. Along with the wounded dog from earlier. Unable to get up, Webber eyed the beast. Fury radiating from his stare, but entirely baseless.

The varg snorted heavily, readying its legs to charge at the boy. Before it could act, a giant spider leaped from the left. The spider ensnared one of the hounds and plunged its teeth into its abdomen. Spiders emerged from the woods, which caused the hounds to charge at their assailants.

A little girl walked in front of the boy, an ax scratching against the ground as she strode by. A passive expression plastered upon her face as she approached the varg.

"Wendy," he said meekly.

She didn't respond in the slightest, merely facing the creature in front of her. The varg, filled with fermented emotions, charged at the girl. With a quick dash, she ran towards his right side. She struck the beast with a heavy slash across its inner ribs, barely cutting through its thick hide. The varg swung its body to push the girl away, but not before receiving another blow from the ax. Wendy flew off the ground from the tackle she had just been dealt. One of the varg's teeth left a long cut across her arm, followed by a small stream of blood that flowed down to her elbow.

The ax Wendy had previously possessed was now lodged into the neck of the tenacious beast. A spear skidded across the ground, coming from Webber. The boy had used what little strength to give her his spear.

Grasping the weapon, she advanced to the animal again. The varg stomped heavily on the ground, its nostrils flaring up. It charged at her, this time with the intent to run her over. With its massive weight, it could easily crush the girl.

Wendy stood still, unfazed. She readied herself, pointing the sharp end of the spear at the charging animal. The girl steadied her breathing. Once within reach, she plunged the spear in the varg's eye sockets. The vast momentum allowed the spear to piece through, snapping the spear in half.

The beast cried out in hysteria, frantically moving all around. Kicking and stomping in every direction as it wailed out in horrible pain. Blood stained the ground, and gushed out in tremendous waves. The varg collided with nearby trees, violently slamming its body against the hardened oak. Only after several minutes of desperate flogging did it begin to reside.

After the beast calmed down, Wendy turned to see the condition of the spiders. All of them were accounted for, and struck down their foes without a single serious injury. The group of five had joined together to fight against the hounds, Muffet leading them the whole way.

Wendy walked to Webber, who was still lying on the ground. He was unconscious, but still breathing. The boy passed out from mere exhaustion.

"It should be night soon, I'll build a fire."

As she walked away to get her ax, she cursed herself. She should feel furious at the boy, but she only felt relieved.

 **Author's Note: I should be sleeping, but I'm not. Couldn't stop thinking of this story. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. It was definitely something.  
**

 **Also, I have an idea for a fic for undertale. Maybe I'll implement it in the future, who knows. It stars my favorite character from the series tho. Welp, I'll see what the future holds. Have a great night!**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Yo, you gots to sleep. It's important for your health and such! Don't worry about he chapter, it'll always be here. Take some rest, enjoy yourself. And if I take my time with this it'll never be done. But I hope you enjoy what I'll produce. Good night!  
**

 **Miss-DNL: Yo, I've seen you before. Not physically, but I've read your name before. I checked your profile, your in the gravity falls fandom. I remember browsing threw some fics in that category. Anyways, you read like four chapters before I could write one. Sorry for Rooney, it was inevitable. Good night!  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter15: Corruption

A surgical beam of light cascaded up in the air. From the dazzling glare, a man plummeted to the earth with a heavy thud. Landing face flat onto the dampened soil. A hard covered book landed in the distance.

Suffering minor bruises, he picked himself up. Dusting off any remnants of dirt from his body. Almost instinctively, he shifted his eyes to the book that had fallen along with him. Picking it off the ground, he gazed at its distinct features.

The book was laced in fine-crafted leather, black as the coming sky. A hand sewn letter M covered the center of the book.

"I'm alive," he whispered surprised.

A lash of intense emotions succumbed the being, only to be met with folly. In what could only comprise of a few short seconds, his mind delved deep into the unnatural fallacies that his own creation had bestowed. And from the murky depths of the shrouded darkness, they appeared.

He could see them, feel them.

They had taken notice of his presence. Begrudgingly, they swarmed the individual. Clouded his mind with inhumane thoughts. And as his mentality wavered, the dark spirits took form of physical apparitions.

They circled round the man, taunting his sanity with their distorted appearance and gruesome whisperings. He fell to his knees, clenching the hairs of his scalp with acute frustration. His eyes sealed shut, as the heinous demons spurred tantalizing temptations and wicked atrocities.

The man focused his mind, in a desperate attempt to block out the voices vibrating around his head. The shadows retaliated, drawing nearer to the feeble man. Instilling a sense of dread as they retailed feats of the man's past. Reviving old, repressed memories.

Regret.

A common yet powerful emotion that delved deep into the man's conscious. Carried along with him throughout the majority of his life. A constant driving force to his enterprise of life that forged tremendous capstones of suffering and reinvention. The feeling never escaping his mind, simple hiding away at the recess of his ego. Patiently waiting for a spark, a catalyst of sorts. To feed off his suffering, and grow fervently through the stimulating frame of mind that is the great magician.

The spoken inebriations of the spirits were progressing. The man probed more and more into his inner torment. Cascading memories flashed by, disconnecting the man further away from reality. His senses deteriorating, losing all cognizance to the world around him.

A vivid memory played in the scope of his subconscious. The soft recollection of a woman, wearing a vibrant sundress. Soft, silk like strands of hair that were cut off, slightly above her shoulders. Her movements were delicate, like dancing to the rhythm of the ocean. She turned to him, eyes full of compassion. A gentle smile could be seen from the bright confines of her face. The women looked at him, unwavering. Her lips moved, reaching out to the man. But not a sound was heard.

"Charlie," he said solemnly.

The man recuperated himself, no longer interested in the disdainful nothings that were being spouted about him. With a sorrowful face, he picked up his book from the ground. Eyes dim as a broken light.

He walked forward, ignoring the dark specters ardently berate him. Calmly, he walked right though one of the phantoms, knowing full well they couldn't touch him. Not yet.

Nearby, he discovered thriving flora embedded to the soft soil of the forest. As the man picked them from the ground, the malignant spirits continued to harass him with vicious thoughts and retorts. The beings were practically screaming in his ear. One of them even approached the man face to face.

The dark, disfigured aura that could only be thought of its appendages caressed his body. It scratched along his neck, and made its way down to his arm. Slowly streaming its apposed fingers carefully around the cloth of his suit. Upon reaching his hand, it clawed into the skin.

Tearing through it with ample ease, drawing a small steam of blood to flow. Pain sauntered from the back of his hand, almost causing him to flinch.

The spirit's disfigured head then inched closely to the man's ear. The man shut his eyes tight as he continued to craft something with the flowers he had collected. He could feel the presence of the being, rich in corruption.

For a while, it did nothing. Simply emulating the act of breathing. Gently on his shoulder.

Then it spoke. In a voice that tried to sound human, but was severely off-key. The voice was much more similar to the dying animal trying to imitate human tongue.

 _ **What's wrong MAXIE.**_

 _ **Don't tell me you still**_ _ **CARE**_ _ **for her.**_

A roar of laughter erupted from the horde, taking great satisfaction from the man's torment. The man, piercing his lips with his teeth, lifted a garland fashioned of soft flowers. His hands were trembling, his eyes untiring.

After placing it on his head, the man waited. The laughter continued, hauntingly shifting between inharmonic tones. With sturdy, broken eyes. He waited. And waited.

Until sometime after, it began to fade. And the physical bodies of the phantoms began to diminish. Little by little, their voices could be heard less.

They were still laughing.

Finally, everything vanished from sight. The air was silent, let alone for the breeze that blew against the leaves. And still, the man did not move. He gazed at the space in front of him. Clearly devoid of any stimulation that the natural world offered him. His mind too, was empty of any protruding thoughts that tried to wiggle into his consciousness. And he stayed like this.

The world continued, its inhabitants carried on their normal routines. Some animals frisked around the forest, pleasingly enjoying their placid environment. Others grazed the thick grass strewed about the fields, lazily walking among themselves. Birds sang their heartfelt songs. Rabbits huddled deep in their holes. Time transcended forward, leaving the daunted behind in the dust.

In the midst of the man's sullen trance, a spider emerged from the woods. Spotting the feeble gentleman, the spider growled lightly and approached him.

The Great Magician, Maxwell, was insulted by the inferior creature. From utter muscle memory, he hastily swayed his arm towards the arachnid with such ferocity that the creature flinched. A small black aura erupted from the palm of his hand, fading away into emptiness.

Maxwell's mouth lay wide open, deeply stunned at the lack of power. The spider, realizing the man posed no threat, let out a blaring screech. From the obscure trees, more spiders sprawled out from the cry of their companion.

Maxwell took notice of his dire situation. Grabbing his book from the ground, he started to flee from the mass of spiders. They gave chase at the man, who clearly outran them in speed. He put his long legs to use and eagerly strode across the brush of branches and stubs.

Turning his head slightly behind him, the man felt satisfied in the distance between them. Unfortunately, Maxwell ran into a hard tree branch, impacting his face. The man fell on his back, and muffled through his hands as he covered his nose.

Blood stained his hands. After feeling his nose with his fingers, he noticed a slight laceration strewn about the area.

"Fantastic," he said aloud.

Picking himself back up, he continued to venture around his area. Strangely, he noticed a light up ahead. Smoke flickered in the distance.

As he took notice of the spectacle, the sky began to descend. Nightfall was rapidly approaching. In a desperate haste, he began to run towards the light. Approaching the area with time to spare, as all light was eradicated from the heavens.

Panting heavily, Maxwell scoped out the area. No one was seen about. A small fire laid at the epicenter of light, and a science machine was nearby. But that was all.

The man was baffled, but content of the convenient fireplace that saved him from demise. Maxwell found nearby logs, placing one of them on top the kindling flames and used another as a means to sit on.

He stared intently at the lingering shadows, deep in thought. Then shifted his gaze to the growing fire. The avid flames surrounded the log, enkindling it with its warm embrace. He fidgeted his hands, eyes weary from exhaustion.

Once more, he focused his attention to the unclear shrouds of darkness. This time, he could not look away. Unknowingly, Maxwell stood himself up. Slowly reaching his hand to the empty void.

He sat himself back down, staring at the floor. The man clasped his delicate thighs, tightening enough to aggrandize the pain. The man tried controlling his breathing, but coughed violently instead. Frustrated, he tried to sedate his malcontented state.

Suddenly, steps were heard nearby. As Maxwell turned to the opposed sound, he witnessed a small whelp of a man. Carrying a torch in hand, and a backpack with his other hand.

"Wilson," he murmured softly.

"You," he hissed at the man. The disgruntled scientist charged at the frail man and tackled him to the ground. Dropping the torch in hand to the ground, losing its flame as it touched the dampened earth. They rolled slightly away from the campfire, Wilson hovering over Maxwell.

"This is your fault," Wilson spurted as he slugged the man. His hand came into direct contact with Maxwell's left cheek. Wilson pulled his hand back and waved it back and forth, blowing on it as his knuckles flushed pink. Maxwell, who was now seething with rage, retaliated with what appendages were available.

Using his left leg, the magician kicked at the scientist's abdomen. Wilson grunted from the impact, trying his best to breath in the air that had left his lungs. Maxwell kicked him again, ejecting the pathetic runt off of himself.

"I'll give you something to be mad about," Maxwell barked. As the slender man made his way to Wilson, the scientist threw scuttled dirt at his face.

"Ah, you bastard!" he cried as he wiped his eyes. Wilson took advantage of his beleaguered state and grabbed his hair, pulling him back to the ground. Only to be met with a heavy kick from Maxwell upon his left calf. As the scientist flinched downwards, Maxwell slugged him across the face.

"Ah, hell! That hurts," the magician bellowed.

"You conniving bigot," the scientist retorted as he held a hand to his cheek.

From the short pass of infighting, a small chime could be heard playing softly. Both turned their heads towards the fire as the melody gave way to an undesirable presence. Only inches away from the alluring flames lay a dispatched, ruminating shadow. One taking the figure of an outstretched hand, menacingly making its way to the hearth.

The two quickly hurried to the epicenter of their radiating bonfire. By then, the shadow had already made its way towards the exuberating inferno, and with one swing. Hampered the brilliant fire to meek, subtle flames. Only enhancing a few feet of light around the area.

Wilson was quick to grab the log Maxwell was previously sitting on to fuel on the smoky embers. The dying timbers wrapped themselves around the solid oak, gently warming it up at its base. Both men looked at the riveting fumes, transcending from the equable log.

Each passing minute seemed to derive the awareness of their surroundings as they focused on the ever longing progress of their fire. Neither of them spoke, simply gazed at the compelling, orange blaze. After a few minutes, the embers finally sparked into tranquil flames.

Enhancing their vision a few feet in radius, allowing them to step in the proximity of the little material disordered around the cite. Wilson grabbed the remaining of the logs and placed them near the hearth. Maxwell sat himself on the ground, legs spread out and arms supporting his upper body.

Wilson then grabbed his bag lingering in the nearby darkness. Overextending his hand to grab the bag as quick as possible.

Reaching into the satchel, he pulled out a rabbit morsel. Piecing it through a stick, he hung the piece of meat over the sweltering fire.

"You went off into the dark for a measly rabbit," Maxwell exhorted.

The scientist paid him no attention.

"Hah, and hear I thou-," evident growling cut off the slender man. The sound came from the man's belly, noticeable signaling his hunger. Maxwell didn't finish his statement, and pulled his legs closer to his stomach.

Wilson sighed in slight annoyance, "We can share." Maxwell didn't respond, and was silent for some time.

"How?" the scientist questioned.

Maxwell turned his sight to the man before him, "Come again."

"How are you still alive?" he snapped.

"Oh, that." He passively responded. "Heck if I know."

"Excuse me."

"Yup, I'm not sure. After you plunged the rod into the socket, brilliant thinking from your end by the way, I was sure I was dead." He sprawled his legs out once more. "Everything else from that point is vague. I remember seeing nothing but darkness, surprise there. Am I right? But then I came here, and then I saw this hobble of a camp. Then you slugged me in the face."

The scientist stared at the man, entirely confused. "But, you tricked me." He murmured.

"Trick you, hah." Maxwell exclaimed. "I didn't stick the thing to the ground, that was your doing, pal."

Wilson's eyes softened, a heavy slouch as he aimlessly stared at the sizzling meat.

"What about you?" he implored.

"Pardon?"

"Yeah, how'd you get here?"

The timid man pondered for a moment, coherently plotting his use of words. "Well," he began, "after we saw you dissipate into a pile of dust."

"Thank you for the riveting image," Maxwell commented.

"Hands similar to the one that hindered this very fire, reached up from the ground. They were no longer bound by their two dimensional plane, and dragged me into a leeway dimension annulled of any light." The scientist paused for a moment. "And then I was back at the throne room, strapped onto a chair quite similar to yours."

Wilson looked directly at him, the pupils in his eyes saturated. "And she was gone."

"By she, you mean the spunky, pyro."

The scientist nodded, staring intently at his hands. Softly fiddling with his fingers as he solemnly thought to himself. Maxwell waited for him to speak again.

"After that, all I could hear were the blasphemous accusations of those horrid specters." His throat sounding ragged. "They, they said such horrible things. They, they made me question so many things." He was caressing his fingers much more rapidly now.

"I don't understand them, what use can they benefit from torment. To, to," he paused to think of the right term. "To corrupt."

Maxwell processed what the feeble-minded man was spouting. He couldn't help but agree with him. The motives behind the ones hidden in the shadows still alluded the man, even after what felt like years.

"Maxwell, before I continue. Please," he sounded desperate, "explain what those creatures are." Wilson's face was entirely pitiful, brows scrounged up. Wrinkled, dark bags were concaved under the man's eyes.

Maxwell stared at the man, who had been subjected to the same torment he had for several years. His expression was fierce.

"I don't know." He replied.

Wilson gasped slightly as he continued to eye the man. Unable to fully concoct the undeniably, strange anomaly that presided from this space oriented existence.

"All I know is that they fill you negative thoughts, a lot of it." The magician concluded.

"Yes, various thoughts." Wilson began. "During my short time in their care, one particular thought was emphasized the most." He met Maxwell at eyelevel. "Do you know what that was?"

He looked at the pitiful man, a serene display of expression as the scientist continued.

"That she wasn't real," he shuttered.

Maxwell looked genuinely shocked, and took some time to fully process what the comment truly meant. Through experience, he knew that these beings forcefully subject their ideas onto their prey.

Wilson took a deep breath, reestablishing his calm state of mind before continuing.

"Of course it was a lie, I knew this." The man recounted. "My memories of her may be short to some extent, but they were quite fresh. The human sensations that I recounted during our time were too surreal to be anything but fictitious." Wilson hugged his knees, eyelids lowered. "But they pressed on. And it was quite painful."

Maxwell allowed Wilson to progress his feelings. The meat sizzled against the fragrant flames. Pulling the stick back, Wilson passed the morsel to Maxwell.

Tearing the meat into two disproportional pieces he said, "Here, pick your piece."

The magician inched his hands for the meat, stopped midway in the fray of the difference in sizes. A look of frustration as he pondered to himself, then grabbed the smaller piece.

"Ah, it's pretty hot." Maxwell chanted as he bounced the piece of meat in his hands.

"Yes, I suppose so." Wilson uttered as the meat lay in his hands.

"So then," the magician grumbled while chewing threw the food. "How'd you get out?"

"That was quite the spectacle," he began. "After some time, I gave in to the shenanigans of my captors. Letting them thrive off the humiliation of my sanity." Maxwell chewed as he listened. "When suddenly, out from the clouded twilight. Emerged a humanoid figure."

Maxwell perked up from the sudden comment. Immensely more eager to hear more from him, but not expressing it out physically.

"It looked like a woman, with black flames shrouding her body. As if it were a part of her. I was quite excited and called for help." Wilson took a bite of his food. "She made her way to me. Despite her appearance, she actually felt rather pleasant. She looked caring."

Finishing what was in his mouth he continued, "She set me free."

Maxwell was in total awe, almost in disbelief. Completely ignoring the cooked morsel in his hand. He processed all the information he was hearing, and intently waited for more.

Wilson now sported a more serious expression, "But something, overcame her. She, she felt possessed somehow. I could see it in her eyes." Maxwell shut his eyes, berating himself. "Using her shadow-like hand, she lifted me up in the air. And sent a rather painful aura throughout my body. Then I blacked out, and somehow ended up here in this world."

The scientist placed his hand to his chin, silently contemplating. "Maxwell, who was she?"

The magician replied nonchalantly, expressing a rather passive face as usual. "Your guess is as good as mine, pal." He took another bite of the measly morsel.

"How peculiar, it would seem there are many things you still don't know of this plane of existence." Wilson responded blatantly.

"You insult me Wilson," he jeered.

"Oh, forgive me. I didn't mean it in that way, just that there are things even you don't know. For many a time, I thought you to be the master of this realm." He conceded.

Maxwell scoffed, "You seem to forget who I am, I created the very ground you stand on." Wilson looked at the nimble man, unimpressed by his baseless achievements.

"Okay, fine." He conceived. "So I'm not as powerful as I once was, all can be changed. With your crafty ingenuity and my knowledge of the dark arts. We can thrive with ease."

"Thanks for the tempting offer, but I'll have to pass." Wilson replied.

"I beg pardon," he asked a bit shocked.

"I don't plan to stay here long, there is someone I need to find." Wilson said with determination.

"You mean the damsel of fire."

"Her name is Willow," he quipped.

"Don't be a fool Wilson, she could be in a whole 'nother world. You won't find her aimlessly wondering around like a buffoon." The magician sneered.

"Thanks for the pep talk, but as you said to me once. I have all the time I need considering we can't escape this retched place no matter what." He chastised. "Ergo, I bid you adieu." The scientist then plunged the rest of the logs onto the fire and turned on his side, indicating his retire to the night.

Maxwell seemed frustrated, surviving alone against his creations was a surefire way to find himself killed. It was almost impossible to live through the atrocities by yourself, cooperation was the key to surviving the cold-hearted world. Then, an idea formed in the mind of the Magnificent Magician.

"Wilson, I'm sorry to cascade your noble ambitions. Your heart's in the right place, but your mind seems to be lacking." A heavy scoff was heard from the scientist. "Searching world after world could take several years, decades even. After all, she might be traversing between worlds looking for you as well."

Maxwell paused, waiting for some form of response from the petite man.

"If so, then we shall find each other sooner." He argued.

Maxwell formed a sly smile, "Wilson, you're smarter than this. Don't you think it's possible to cross each other's worlds, only for the other to visit a previously inhabited one." The scientist appeared to be listening. "Not to account for the hundreds of worlds that would need to be explored."

"Hundreds," Wilson recited.

"Do you see now? You could never see her again, and your searching could be pointless. Or worse, by the time you find her. She can be, well…I don't think you need me to say it to understand."

Wilson turned over his shoulder, eyeing the conniving man. His facial expression grieved with the realization of the truth in his words.

"Fret not, pal." Maxwell smiled firmly. "I have a better solution."

 **Author's Note: Alright, Sunday is the only time I actually have a full day off. Other days, I got school or work, or both. I was supposed to come out with two chapters by today, but yesterday was a very depressing day. One of the worst I've had in a while. I tried working on this yesterday, but I just wasn't feeling it. It is much better as it stands right now, Maxwell is a pleasure to write, hope you all enjoyed and are having a better time than me.**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Omg, you're so lucky! I've always wanted the spider plush but I have to be tight with my money. I see you're adapting to the plot of the story, we'll see how long that lasts. Good stuff though, and I'm glad ya like it.  
**

 **Pour: Yo, champ in the making. Webber and Wendy will be addressed in the next chapter. Don't count your chickens before they hatch.**

 **Guest: There was a guest who commented how he longed to write better. Bruh, write something every day. Doesn't have to be good. You get better over time, I used to struggle in English as a subject but now I do better. Trust.**

 **Guest2: Sorry, I got no way to name ya. But you said it was an amazing story so I heavily thank you. It helps when life keeps throwing you punches.**

 **KhalzKitty: Yo, knowing that this helps people. Even just a little is enough to try harder in life. Whether it be writing or surviving the day. I hope this chapter will keep you awake while at work. Good luck and stay strong.**

 **Potato Lord: I must say you made an interesting comparison. And you'd be exhausted too if you only had breakfast for the whole day and ran like crazy. Heck, running for five minutes at break pace speed was enough to make me pass out. Anyway, hope you enjoyed Maxwell and friends.**

 **Greenman1502: I hope you're all caught up now, and have been enjoying it thus far. Webber is a fantastic person.**

 **Miss-DNL: Yup that Webber, remember not to follow intense emotions kiddos. It uh, is not the best of choices sometimes. If you were wondering whats up with Maxwell. Well, here it is. Thanks for the various comments left on every chapter, it low key helped me plot a bit more just reading some of the reactions.  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 16: Fear

A cascade of darkness enveloped the boy. Without any notion or hint of direction, Webber found himself aimlessly peering at different angels. Relatively fruitless since the area proved to be a painful void of shaded complexion. Despite the lack of physical appearance, he began to feel a revolting presence. It pressed inside his unseeing body, taking place at the epicenter of his chest. The feeling created a suffocating vacuum inside of him, swallowing any latent form of comfort. The boy couldn't breathe, nor squeal or determine what or where his physical limbs were at any given moment. The need to experience a familiar sensation intensely increased as he spasmed for some sense of control. And the more he struggled, the more present the smothering came to be.

It wasn't until a shadowed figure started to render in the confides of the caliginous environment that Webber stopped resisting. The being rose in form, a long aspiration that spewed waves of tenebrous aura about it. It's opposed head held several strands of wavering shadows that acted as hair. Almost immediately, the being grew larger in size. The being's face drawing near the boy as the rest of its body enveloped the area.

Then, in a surprisingly proper voice, it spoke.

 _ **Hello boy, _ _ _ _**_

Part of its speech was inaudible for Webber.

 _ **Can you _ me**_

Webber looked solemnly at the figure, deeply stupefied by the situation.

 _ **Pathetic, the _ _ girl _ _ _ better**_

 _ **Things will start changing, _ upset _ _ power**_

 _ **_ _ _ show little promise. _ hold _ no power. _ _ _ _ _. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...**_

The words stopped making sense to the little boy, only enumerating a constant imperceptible voice. Fortunately, the suffocating feeling that encompassed him had ceased. He was simply floating in the abyss among the company of the dark, animate entity. Eventually, Webber tuned out the voice of the being. Only gazing at its perplexity, and often wondering where he was and why. But as the thing kept speaking, some new feeling was becoming eminent. Emanating from the creature, instilling a potent residue of desperate agony. The head of the creature expanded tremendously, taking up the entirety of the contemporary space. Its voice now quaking at the entrance of the boy's eardrums. Concocting a fickle melody of enumerated shrieks and wails, all devolving from a cacophony of indescribable terror. And it spoke to him, this time its voice was clear.

 _ **Remember, all things truly wicked start from INNOCENCE!**_

…

Webber stood himself up, frantically breathing as he scoped his surroundings. The sun was blinding, causing him to shield his eyes with his hands. After a quick few seconds of approaching consciousness, his head managed to cave into a horrendous amount of pain. Nauseated, concentrated pain that resided deep in his skull. The boy's vision blurred as the world around him shifted in balance left and right. He groaned at his irritable distress, falling back down on the crated bed before him.

Wendy, who was perched by the crockpot, heard the boy's chilling cries of agony. She made her way to him, a gleam of relief glistening in the corners of her eyes. "Webber, you're awake." She said almost surprised.

"Wendy, is that you?" He babbled. "We feel awful," the boy tried to stand himself up so he could get a look at her. But she simply pushed him back down, "Don't move so much, you need to get proper rest." Webber tried to say something, but she beat him to it, "Wait right here, I'll be right back."

In the blink of an eye, she was already by the croak pot fiddling with the broth. Which left him by himself, enduring the chronic spells of his migraine. Upon looking at the sky, he noticed the bleak rays of the sun fading away. And after gendering at the sky for some time, he thought to himself what had happened. Carefully trying to recall the events of the previous day that could of led to his current predicament.

Unexpectedly, a giant spider had landed on top of him. The spider applied heavy force in his abdomen, which not only wiped out his breath but also caused him to gag severely. The yellow tinted spider was none other than Muffet that then began to lick the boy's face.

"Muffet, y-you're killin' us." He gagged out.

"Muffet, off. You're hurting him," a voice bellowed. Wendy came walking by with a bowl in both hands, taking extra precaution to keep it safe. The oversized spider backed off the boy, resting beside the boy with curled legs and soft purrs.

Wendy kneeled to the ground by the boy's side. "Slowly sit up straight," she insisted. With a belittled groan, he managed to stand himself upright. His mind splitting into various pieces as he tried to focus his attention on Wendy. Her appearance was presented in a sloppy blur, only picking up blatant details about her general appearance. Such as the mesh of yellow colors must have been her hair and so on.

"Here, drink this." She offered. "It's a soup made from a few vegetables and a small amount of meat. If you can't eat the solid food, just drink the broth. It's the important part," she finished. Following the boy's movements, she gently placed the bowl into his fingertips. Making sure he had a steady grasp on the thing so that he wouldn't drop it.

Webber struggled to fully incorporate the use of his sight while handling the hot, stone basin. Thus, he relied on his sense of touch to guide it towards his mouth.

"Ahhh, it burns." He fretted.

"Here, let me cool it for you." She said softheartedly. The boy released his grip of the bowl as she reached for it, not that he even had functional strength to keep it in his hands.

"Here, try it now. But try to drink it slowly," she proposed. Webber reached for the soup one more time, carefully feeling the rough edges of the fabricated silverware. He pursed his lips to the edge of the bowl, cautiously sipping the contents of the broth. The formulated stock tenderly flowed down his throat, providing a much better feeling to his body than he would of thought. The taste was notably bland, but aided his fatigue and massive headache. Before he knew it, he finished slurping in large quantities. Only having to choke after a piece of carrot managed to flow down his throat without chewing.

"I said take it slow," she warned. Webber did his best to maintain his composure, slapping his chest the palm of his hand to regain his breathing. Wendy was about to help until he signaled that he was fine, even though he kept coughing every other second.

After he stopped coughing, they just stood in place. Webber was breathing softly, as his pain and queasiness subsided ever so lightly. The girl just stared at him, then after recognizing he was going to stay in the same position, sat knees up on the floor.

Soon Webber's senses were becoming more clear to him, and he was able to think better to some extent. He looked at Wendy, whose features were becoming more crisp and refined.

"Hey Wendy," he began, "what happened?"

She looked at the ground, sighing before giving him an answer. "When I found you," she paused, "you were on the lying on the ground. I couldn't tell what was happening, I just saw the varg and assumed the worst. So, Muffet charged right in. Seeking her teeth into the nearest hound, and the others followed her." She looked up at the boy, her eyes depleted from natural rest. "I set out to fight the thing, and you passed out some time in between."

The boy's eyes widened to his sudden recollection. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't formulate his thoughts. Part of him wanted to apologize, another wanted to know if anyone was hurt. Only then was when he noticed something peculiar, an uneasy feeling that vibrated all over his spine.

"Where are the others," he croaked.

Wendy took full notice of his shaky behavior, quickly understanding his concerns. "Webber, don't stress. They're all fine, I sent them to gather some supplies nearby."

"Supplies?"

"Yes, they're just out gathering some twigs and grass." She assured him. "Those spiders are a lot more useful than I thought."

"You taught them to gather," he said amazed, "Wow, you miss so much in a single night." The boy took notice of his words, acknowledging that he wasn't sure how much time had passed. Aftershocks of burning aching bounced inside his temples as he held one hand to his forehead. "How long have we been asleep?" he asked.

Wendy looked at him with another solemn expression. "Webber, you've been asleep for two whole days."

"What?" he said, not fully convinced.

"You wouldn't wake up, I even had Muffet carry you back once the sun came up. I kept a close eye on you, but you just laid there. You even grew this weird beard, out of spider silk. I took care of that right away. But, for the most part, you did absolutely nothing. And, I had to prepare for winter." She twiddled her fingers together.

Webber took a solid look around the camp, finally being able to process his surroundings accurately. There were notable structures lined up together near the farmland. Strange wooden structures that held some peculiar, dangling piece of meat with some rope.

"They're drying racks, I was able to craft a few out of twigs and rope." She chimed in. "Most of the meat we had stored has been eaten, which puts us at a bad position since it should be getting colder now. But on the bright side, we were able to harvest the meat from the hounds. The spiders seem to take a liking to it."

The boy let out a noticeable gag at the mention of the horrid meat. "That purple monstrosity, why would you keep that?" His head rocked back and forth massively, distorting his sense of balance as his blood rushed to his cranium.

Wendy responded back with a stern voice, "I wasn't going to let it go to waste. Not after having to stay up all night watching the thing bleed to death." She turned her gaze to another structure in the distance. "Besides, it has other uses."

"Geez, my head feels like a million little explosions." Webber commented.

"You need to rest," she said while picking up the bowl. "Get some sleep, the others will be back soon."

She slowly stood herself up when the boy reached to grab on of her hands, "Wait," he said. "Can, can you stay and keep me company." His voice was soft. "We don't want to sleep."

"Webber, don't be petty. You need your res-"

"We know," he interrupted. "But, we really don't want to sleep." He took a raspy breath. "There was this strange dream we had, it's hard to remember what it was about. But, we couldn't move, and we couldn't see." The boy looked up to meet her at eye level, with damp eyes at the brink of tearing up.

"Wendy, I'm scared."

The words flowed smoothly, almost captivating all of her thoughts at once. At that instance, the world stopped progressing around her. She couldn't hear the birds around her or feel the cool sensation of the breeze skidding away at empty space. She was stuck in a standstill, for the words resonated a feeling that was all too well known. And through the aching of his words, she can resound his level of hurt.

"Okay," she finally said. "I can stay right here, and we can stay up together."

 **Author's Note: This has been the longest amount of time where I haven't updated. Life is full of a lot of changes. And I'm not gonna lie, I almost didn't come back to this. I have reasons, but that doesn't matter now. Summer is here, and I plan on finishing this by the end of it. So hopefully I can fit 20 more chapters by the end of August. I'll be replying back to people on the next chapter since its been so long. Hope life treated you well.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 17: Comfort

"You mean you didn't know their names the whole time," Webber gushed, softly chuckling away as he teased the pessimistic, little girl.

"How would I?" she began. "It's only been a couple of days since I met you, and I was never really told of their names."

"You always put them off," he rebutted. "Never showing them the slightest sign of love, which they dreadfully need." He coughed. "What about Raven, and even Muffet. Why were they the only ones you remembered?"

"They left an impression," she said while driving a sewn needle through some fabric. "Muffet is the only spider warrior here, and you forced Raven to come along with me."

"Spider Warrior?" Webber asked in a confused tone.

She turned her gaze to the large spider that was huddled near the spider nest, "That's what Muffet is. A spider warrior," the last words lingered from her mouth.

"How do you know?"

She looked away from the spider that was peering back at her. "That's not important." The boy felt a little disappointed from her answer, and proceeded to lift a small arachnid that was resting beside him.

"Well," he began, "No better time to learn their names then now." With a cheerful smile he said, "This here is Fobia, one of the smaller spiders of the group but is totally precious."

"Fobia," Wendy said amused. "That's quite a name it has there, was the irony an intentional thing or were you just-" she dragged out the last word, waiting for Webber to respond.

"Irony?" he pondered. "We don't know what that means, we just thought that Fobia was a cool name. We heard our dad say the word once," he added. "It sounded cool."

She giggled at his upright nature. "Alright, Fobia. I think I'll remember that. How about that one right there?" she pointed. "That spider is quick to learn."

"Who, this one?" he patted the arachnid. "This is Faven, definitely full of surprises. If ya need em to sniff out some turkeys or spot just about anything, this spider is your guy."

"That sounds about right," she agreed. "I once sent them off to get to gather more grass for the racks, and before heading off it took one of the backpacks with it. Faven just dragged it along," she was hiding a grin, "they didn't even come back with grass. The little heartache came back with a half-eaten turkey."

Webber burst out laughing, covering his ribs with his arms as Wendy observed him. He wiggled in his bed, failing when it came to containing himself.

"Was it really that funny?" she chastised.

"Y-yes," he snuck out while continuing to laugh. This was followed by wild coughs that strung from the boy's throat, forcing him to catch his breath.

Before Wendy could get a word out, the sun had gone completely down. Thus starting the morose transition of the island's ever-growing shaded complexion. Except that it wasn't getting dark. Instead, the night sky started shifting to a lighter, receptive hue. The land blended with a light turquoise color that exulted its vibrant textures to a pleasing overglow. Upon looking up, one can notice the moon blaring up high in the sky. Reflecting a dynamic shade that enveloped the entirety of the island. Unlike other nights, visibility was enhanced.

And for the first time ever, Webber was amazed by the beauty emulated from the night sky. The extra layer of blue added a tender shade of vivid detail that reflected among the most minute features. For instance, the fire crackling beside them had slight hints of blue tangled together at the ends of the flames. Embers danced together in an affectionate embrace, shifting between its yellow and blue hues. Complementing each other with a mesmerizing sight, almost intoxicating.

A refreshing feeling washed over the boy, a tranquil and benign sensation that captivated the boy's state of being. He felt that he could breath, without the feel of caving to an unwanted pressure deep in his chest. He had never noticed or appreciated the mere thought of peaceful breathing, but its all he could feel at the moment. Like an epiphany, he was finally realizing its worth. He wanted to tell someone of this, to express his emotions.

"It's a full moon," a voice pulled at his consciousness. "How hauntingly beautiful."

Wendy was looking up at the sky, a smile sneaking out from her lips. Her lightly, colored hair glowed to a spindle of yellow curdles from the moonlight. Her face seemed so delicate all of a sudden. The soft features of her face became to resonate with ambient vivacity, providing a comfortable presence.

Her eyes attracted the most attention, glimmering in the shimmering air. Eyes with restless bags weighing the girl with the upmost deliria. Only to met with compassionate pupils that stared out into the distance. An outstanding stare that looked at nothing in particular. Staring far in the distance, past all the complacent surroundings that occupied her field of vision. Eyes that kept all the objects of beauty and ugliness at a crossroads.

Tantalizing, green eyes.

"I'm done," she softly said.

The boy snapped back to consciousness, totally abstracted by his unnoticed gawking.

"Here, try it on." She said. "It should keep you warm."

Wendy held out a handcrafted, winter sweater. Quite similar to the one she was wearing, only sporting a different color.

"Oh, th-thanks." He quietly disclosed. "It looks really, neat." With some arm movement and effort, he lifted the sweater over his head. Tightly fitting through the opening and sliding his arms through the opening sleeves.

The material consisted of the Koalefant, the trunk or apparent nose. Despite its origin, the coat had a very comfortable feeling to it. The woven material was soft to the touch, and had a formidable amount of fluff that made it warm.

"Wow, it feels amazing. Thanks Wendy."

"Don't worry about it, now you won't have to run around completely naked." She teased.

"Naked! We're not naked, don't you see all this fur." He defended.

She was giggling, "It's a joke, don't get your feathers ruffled."

"Feathers?"

"It's just an expression," she added.

The two of them sat by the fire, pleasantly enjoying the flames. The night was peaceful, only the small tints of nature offered the slightest bit of sound.

"Hey look," Webber said while pointing. From the end of his finger was the spider Raven. Who was performing a yawn that the two were able to see halfway. "Isn't Raven cute."

"That's one way to look at it," she commented.

"What?" he silently screamed. "That was incredible adorable, they held the yawn for at least three seconds. When was the last time you saw a spider yawn?"

"Never."

Webber pouted at her, then proceeded to turn to the tired arachnid before him. "Hey Raven, feeling sleepy already." The spider let out a small screech. "Want to sleep together with Wendy?"

"What?" she interjected.

"Oh, come on. Let her nuzzle with you, you won't regret it."

"I'd rather not, they look pretty comfortable right where they're at."

As if on cue, the spider picked itself up and made its way towards the girl.

"No, Raven." She quipped. "Bad spider, stay where you are." The spider halted its movement.

"Booo, don't be such a stick in the mud. Raven's taken a liking to you, it's only natural to embrace it." Webber said. Raven let out a small wail near the girl, before gently resting on the floor. It's eyes closing and drifting off to sleep.

"It's okay, Raven. One day, and it'll be soon."

She rolled her eyes at the boy, "By the way, you never told me about that spider."

"Who, Calamity." He said affirming the spider she was looking at. "Oh, that's the rascal of the group. The smallest of them all too. Doesn't know how to pick their fights, since the lil guy tends to fight who ever they see. Surprisingly agile." He said placing a hand on his chin.

"You're in a chipper mood, did the headache go away?" Wendy asked.

"Huh," he said returning his attention to her. With a puzzled expression, he clasped his head with his hands. Feeling the top of his cranium as if inspecting a foreign object. "Huh, we didn't notice."

"That's good right," she said. "Do you think you're able, to get some rest? Now that you feel better."

The boy was silent for a few seconds. He opened his mouth in order to speak, but closed his lips just as fast. His gaze was then caught in the temptations sight of the simmering fire. Deeply embroiled in the passionate flames, he spoke, "Maybe."

Wendy looked at his figure, contemplating the thoughts flowing throughout his head. He was silent for an uncomfortable number of seconds. Seconds that turned into minutes as the boy calmly entangled the fearsome tinders with his pupils.

"Yeah, we think we can." He said suddenly, his voice containing much more confidence than what she was expecting. "We feel a lot better than before." The boy lifted himself up, and prepared the bed to his comfort. As he lied back down, he managed to position Fobia to a more appropriate angle for sleeping.

"Aren't you gonna prepare for bed?" he asked.

Wendy found herself surprised by the question, nodding at the boy without realizing it.

"Hey Wendy," he called out.

"Yeah."

"Thanks for being my friend."

She stopped what she was doing by the abrupt comment.

"We know it sounds pretty dumb, but we felt like we needed to thank you. We've never really had a friend before. Well, not a human friend." He ruffled the fur of Fobia. "Too bad we had to be stuck on this island for that to happen," he chuckled, "but we're a little glad."

"Hey, Webber. What was your life like before this. Before the island," she urged.

"Oh, well." He began. "It was okay, we guess. Our dad used to spend most of his time in his room, working with some machine. Mum was always nice to me though, she'd cook food all the time." His eyes were glimmering. "Mum and dad used to, uh." He fumbled his words. "Well, for the most part. It was a little lonely, we had asked some of the kids around to play with us. But, they had other things to take care of. Others were just mean.

"But," he quietly exclaimed, "I had this pet spider. The coolest guy you'd ever see, the best! I found him in the woods, and snuck him behind my parents' backs. I named em Auden, he made," he yawned, "the days pretty cool."

He looked at the girl who was now laying in her bed. "What about you?"

"Hmm," she mused. "I can't complain, it was alright."

The boy waited for her to continue, but she just stared up at the moonlit sky.

"That's it, nothing else." He murmured.

"Well, what type of answer were you expecting."

"We don't know, something more than that." He uttered.

"Alright, fine. Since we're sharing, my family had dreams of living it up in the big city. We moved a few times. My sister was really the only one I felt close to." She shuffled in the blanket of straw.

"Do you miss her?"

"Sometimes," she replied. "Other times I don't have a reason to."

The boy looked at her with a confused expression, expecting further explanation.

"You'll see soon enough," she placed a flower in front of her. It was hovering off the ground, emitting a lively red color.

"Good night."

 **Author's Note: Only 20 more chapters to go, haha. This should of been out a few days ago but June is really heavy with family birthdays. Mine included, I'm 20 now. Also, anime expo is right around the corner so I probably won't update until its over. Other than that, hope ya enjoyed the wholesome chapter and have a chill night.  
**

 **DerpPriest: It has been too long, haha. I'll try to stay consistent.**

 **Phoenixflame of Thunderclan: Thanks for the support, I don't like abandoning things and hopefully will finish this soon. As to the recognition among fanfictions, or any form of writing for that matter, everyone has their own set of tastes. Some people don't even like reading, and that's okay. I've always considered education and reading to be embraced by a minority of people. I think what matters is how you deal with the people among your own interests. Anyways, thanks for your continuous support. You the MVP!  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 18: Start of a Nice Day

The air was dry and chilling. The sparse sunlight that was scattered among the tree branches did little to warm up the brisk ground.

"Look Wilson, it's not even snowing and yet you can still see my breath battle it out against the stupendous air."

"Stop complaining." the scientist snapped. "Why'd you even create this world to fluctuate between extreme temperatures if you can barely stand them yourself."

"I didn't have to experience it. In fact, I couldn't experience any of my creations. Except the inescapable grasp of indescribable boredom." He queried.

"Well, I'm sorry it was such a bore for you." Wilson scoffed. "I'm sure you would have rather took my place in combating the various aspects nature, or rather the abominations you conjured, had to offer amidst this hell of an island."

"Exactly, my point. I knew you would understand, Wilson'O pal." He teased. "At least if that were the case, I could have fashioned warmer clothing. Not unlike these rancid garments we have right now."

"Our timing is inconvenient, just our luck to be sent back while winter is right around the corner. And you're here with me, aren't you? What stopped you from doing any better?" He announced.

"Hey, don't pin this thing on me. I looked everywhere for those beefalos last night." Maxwell retorted. "And all you could do was tie some rabbits together and fasten some grass suits."

"Incredible, you are driving me insane. We haven't even accomplished our goal for the evening and you are driving me insane." He said while gently ruffling his hair.

"Can't handle a healthy dose of criticism, huh pal." He chuckled. "I'm surprised you were able to survive for so long."

Wilson took a deep breath, then opened his eyes wide. "You're the one who amazes me, it's laughable how I perceived you to be such a threatening individual."

The magician flinched from the fraudulent mockery, "Now, wait just a min-"

Maxwell was interrupted midsentence by Wilson, who posed his arm horizontally to stop the man in place. The petite scientist has a hardened expression, and a glare that sought out objects in Maxwell's opposite direction. The man's keen behavior left Maxwell uncomfortable, as the man struggled to understand what to do in this situation. Opting to stand unfittingly still as the scientist surveyed their surroundings. For the most part, Wilson simply studied their environment, as if he were smelling the faintest smell flowing throughout the air.

Then the man spoke in a low volume, "Over there." Followed by a stretched-out arm in the following direction. In which Maxwell indolently set his eyesight to the furthermost part of the intended area.

"I don't see anything, wha-" he mumbled before Wilson hushed him.

Using simple hand signals, the scientist ordered the fragile man to follow his lead. To the man's dismay, he listened. Carefully tiptoeing the ground and avoiding fractured tree limbs that could possible emit sound at the dimmest touch. Once the two beings where in an acceptable distance, Wilson kneed to the ground with a bush covering them.

"Look, over there." He muttered while Maxwell knelt beside him.

This time, Maxwell could see a small, tier one spider nest not too far away from them. And slightly beside the nest were two, black spiders sprawled against the silky ground.

"Hah, perfect. Time to show those miserable runts not to mess with the Great Al-"

"Shhhhhh, shut up you idiot. You don't want us to get caught," Wilson quietly chastised.

Maxwell sneered at the man's input, "What can two little, pesky insects hold against one rigid display of manhood. And his lacking companion."

Wilson took in another breath, and after exhaling he straightened his hands parallel to one another while performing a displeased, facial expression.

"Listen carefully," he said as he pulled the egotistical magician's shoulders down to his eye level. "Strutting forward like an idiot is only going to get us killed, we have to survey the area. There could be more, there may be a second spider nest. We have to be careful," a full emphasis on the last words.

"Oh, right." Maxwell stammered.

The scientist took one last sigh, "Look, I get it. You don't really know how to survive, which is quite pathetic." He pinched the top of his nose. "Just, stay put. Keep an eye on the nest, and if a spider nears. Well, take advantage of those long arms of yours. The spear is surely the ideal weapon for you."

"Wait, you're not gonna leave me alone. Are you?" Wilson was already treading away, his body low to the ground. "Wait," he silently yelled, "I've never fought anything before, Wilson."

The man had already left and disappeared among the foliage of green. Maxwell was left miffed and disheartened as he clutched a spear using both of his hands. With a tight grip, he urged his attention towards the spider nest. Where two spiders were softly sleeping soundly by the silky bubble. This was normal, familiar to the man. It was quite common for spiders to sleep during most of the day, that much he knew.

Even so, the man couldn't help but feel a striking quiver of adrenaline and paranoia. It riveted inside his bones, vibrating against very simple aspirations that clashed in his mind. Yet the spiders looked very peaceful, their small bodies raised and fell with every breath they took under their sleep. But it was their features, their inhumane features. The prickly, hairy torsos of the arachnids. Supporting abnormally grotesque faces that held several eyes. It made the man's skin crawl. For the time being, he thought it was because of their appearance.

A shriek of some sort was heard close to the nest, too close for comfort. The man shifted his eyes quickly, hastily examining the current surroundings with a fickle eyesight. Under his raspy breaths, he heard the ruffling of bushes.

Wilson was spotted amidst the fray, with a spider hissing at the man in an aggressive stance. It poised its fangs at the him, and slowly slid its legs closer. Fortunately, Wilson had a stone in hand.

"Maxwell, focus on the nest!" He threw a stone headway towards the bubble of silk, emitting a distasteful, harsh sound. "I'll distract them."

The spiders awoke from the man's ardent yelling, and upon seeing his attack had fervently made their way towards him. Hissing and screeching with keen eyes and slobbering mouths. Maxwell watched as Wilson ran away from his assailants, captivated by his bold approach.

Within seconds, they were all out of sight. The screeching and wails of the arachnids died out quickly. Maxwell found himself staring at the direction that they had took off, almost forgetting the task that Wilson had assigned him.

With a dumb stricken face, the man turned his head towards the mass of silk. This was also familiar to the man. The nest acts as a home for the spiders, but it is much more than that. Similar to the bee hive, it harbors a queen. A paternal creature that grows gradually in size, birthing more spiders as time passes. Once the queen reaches its mature state, it can detach itself from the nest. Revealing its colossal and grotesque appearance. Of course, it'll only do this at times when its territory is threatened. For the queen is left with the task of birth. The queen typically remains stagnant inside the next, and focuses most of their energy on creating a new queen. First, it must birth a defense of spiders to protect it while it stores enough energy for a new queen. Once the queen succeeds in creating another, it'll draw the rest of its energy to separate from the nest and build its own elsewhere. If left alone, the process will repeat.

Maxwell shook his head back and forth, snapping his mind back to the situation at hand. All of that information is irrelevant, what mattered at the present time was slashing the nest at its core. In order to take advantage of all of the silk, the young queen inside must die.

He inched forward a little, just enough to reach through with his spear. He had never killed anything before, his fingers were slightly shaking. He rubbed the spear with the palm of his hand, hoping to ease some of the nerves.

With one fell swoop, Maxwell thrusted his spear with minimal effort. The spear tore through the slid seamlessly, but hit a snag somewhere in the center. A strange cry was heard after the spear impaled the foreign material logged in the center. It started wailing out in pain, the nest even started wiggling around. The jittered movements acted against the head of the spear, vibrating throughout the weapon. Maxwell could feel the creature frantically struggle at the base of his fingertips.

In a panicked retaliation, he tightened his grip harder and lodged the spear even further. It collided with the creature inside and slowly slid in. Each time the blade inched closer, it became harder to push in.

And the screams became louder.

Maxwell grew restless as the riveting cries of the arachnid clashed at the front door of his ear drums. The man pulled in all the might he could muster, and pushed the spear once more. His feet skid the ground due to force, but it finally slid straight through. The tip of the blade was visible from the opposite end of the punctured hole. Red blood contrasting with the silver hue.

Maxwell took rapid breaths, doing his best to calm himself down. When he heard a shriek behind him. One of the spiders had made it back, and was only a few feet away before spotting the man beside the obliterated spider egg.

The man stared wide eyed at the little creature, his mouth agape. The spider merely glimpsed at the next, and became engulfed in fury.

It jumped at the man, who evidently couldn't pull out his weapon before dodging away.

"Hold on there, pal." He tried to reason.

The words meant nothing to the spider, how could they. It sprinted low to the round, dashing around in the flutter of a second. The spider aimed for his leg, Maxwell jumped away with a frightened reaction. The fragile man rushed to a nearby tree while his legs did their best to stay off the ground.

The spider jumped at him once more, charging at his chest with an open maw. Upon befuddled reactions, the man flung his arm into the fray. Swinging away with rapid movements, hoping to knock the spider out of the air. The back of his hand gave contact to the prickly, black hairs of the spider. Sending the spider darting off and slamming against a tree.

Maxwell's hand became enveloped in pink pigments, causing a burning irritation to develop over his skin. The man took little notice however, he focused entirely on the spider. Which had halted its brash drive to fight, and hissed at the man from its position.

From a closer look, he could see that it had two of its legs curled up close to its body. The spider must have been wounded from the impact.

"Maxwell," a voice hollered from behind. "Be careful, one of them separated from the others, it can still be-" the man stopped his sentence after catching up to Maxwell. Wilson caught glimpse of the injured spider, hissing at the two of them.

"Oh, I see." He said while picking up his ax, which was coated in a bleak, red pigment. "You're not as helpless as I was led to believe."

"Hah, how little you think of me."

"Well, finish it off." Wilson then held out the ax for him to wield. "I'll be exerting my efforts on the spider nest."

The man looked at the ax, his tight grin fading away as he peered at the sharp tip. "You, you want me to kill it?"

"That's why I'm handing you the ax," he affirmed.

Maxwell took another look at arachnid that was hissing away. It was cornered or trapped, it could simply run away from them. Except it didn't, it just stood there.

"Can it not move?" Maxwell said out loud.

"It most likely still can, but it has nowhere to go." Wilson stated.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, its nest is destroyed. The nest is what harbors the spider queen," he smugly flinched from the reminiscence of the colossal creature. "From what I have observed, their livelihoods revolve around that fact. This species has a, 'protect the queen' behavioral instinct. Even now, with the queen dead. It acts in a defensive manner since we are invading its territory." Wilson placed the base of his ax to the ground. "Spiders that have lost their queen become stagnated without a sense of purpose or belonging. It'll just stay in this area, and hunt what's nearby. Attack what's nearby."

"How do you know so much?" Maxwell questioned.

"How don't you?" he retorted with a raised eyebrow. "This is your world Maxwell, you created these creatures."

"I know that," he conceded.

He looked distressed, his hands were hugging his hips firmly. Wilson didn't say another word, merely observing the reticent magician. Trying to understand the man's behavior or thought process at this given point.

"Do, do you not, want to." The last words lingered out of the scientist.

Maxwell then turned to look at him, his facial features were scrounged up together as if he were insulted. "I just murdered a spider queen," he almost shouted. "Do you see me incapable of killing a small-" he clicked his lips together. "Pest."

"What! No, of course not. It just seems that, maybe, you wouldn't want to." He defended.

Maxwell looked at him with a befuddled expression, "What, well. Look at it. It's, it's." He took in a breath. "I mean, it's just so." He let out a sigh.

Then his hardy expression shifted almost immediately, a small smile crafted underneath his nose. "I'm sorry Wilson, it must be because I'm not particularly used to this. I'm sure you could understand."

Wilson faced the man, more confused then ever.

"You may hand me the ax, I should finish what I started."

"Maxwell, if you really struggle with this then you don't ha-"

"Wilson," Maxwell interrupted. The man said his name with a heavy emphasis, almost in a threatening manner. The scientist expected him to speak again, but Maxwell only extended his arm.

Wilson found himself subconsciously handing over the ax. "Maxwell, you really don't have to."

But the man grabbed the tool without batting a single eyelash, and made his way forward to the arachnid. It was still hissing at them, and as Maxwell treaded forward it growled and cracked sounds. The man towered over the fragile creature, a faded glare piecing the insects body as a whole.

A gush of wind sliced through the air, transcending the sound from the spider. And then all was silent.

…

"Wendy, are you gonna tell us now." Webber moaned.

"We're almost there, be patient." She responded.

The pitter-pattering of feet could be heard clashing against stone. It created a methodic rhythm that overpowered any sound that was present. Easily achieved since the island underwent a rather silent residence.

And yet, the boy couldn't help but stop in place, and look around. Eyes peering at the most discreet details, processing the branches and bushes one by one.

"Hey, what's the matter." Wendy said, stopping in place.

"Oh, uh, nothing." He stuttered. "We just thought that, maybe we heard something." He was facing away from her, continuing to survey the area. There was nothing abnormal in sight, but he had such a strange feeling.

"Guess it was nothing," he said before turning to her direction, walking down the path.

 **Author's Note: Well, I'm behind again. No surprise there am I right. Anime expo was really fun though, someone cosplayed as Webber and it was perfect! But after anime expo, I actually went on a road trip and just got back last night. Got 20 more chapters to go, I'll do my best. Also, Maxwell and Wilson are really fun to write.**

 **Miss-DNL: Well, I haven't covered Webber meeting Abigail yet. But it's the next chapter, should be fun. Hope you're doing well!**

 **Guest: I must say that your comment took me by surprise. Simply because at the time, I wasn't really taking care of myself. I'll try to do better. Thanks you though, I wish you the best of days!**

 **Potato Lord: Good to hear from you again. And thanks for wishing me happy bday. And I understand your concerns. Therefore, I will work even harder! haha, but I'll try to pace myself. Have a great night!**

 **Sad: Thanks, it'll get sad at points. The death of Rooney was something, I miss that guy. Well, have a swell evening!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters involved in Don't Starve. All characters and materials perceived in this story belong to Klei Entertainment.**

Chapter 19: Wholesome

"We're here," a light voice said.

Wendy could be seen lofting over wavering fields, grass traps shifting in place. A dull shine of light reflecting off the savanna plains as the area tangled around with a brush of wind. Webber followed close behind, softly passing the bristles of the wavering grass.

"Okay, the grasslands huh." The boy looked around. "You could see those big hairy things in the distance." He pointed out. "But, what are we here for?"

"I'd be better just to show you," she cautioned. Her eyes were focused on the traps that were shifting about, two of them were active.

"Hmmm, that's cool and all. But, we didn't just come here for a couple of rabbits. Right." He commented. "We mean, rabbits are a nice thing to get but-"

"Webber, no." She consented. "It's much more different than that, I just need to be patient for a little longer."

"Oh, okay." The boy said, straightening his posture and clasping his hands together.

"There's a reason why I didn't want any of the spiders tagging along," she said solemnly. "It's because, I didn't know how they would react." Webber opened his mouth a little, his pupils enlarging. "I don't know how she'll react either," she continued. "So, I need you to do me a very big favor."

The boy looked at her with innocent eyes, waiting for the sound of her voice.

"I need you to trust me," she confided.

Webber heard the words ascend from her tongue. And without really thinking too hard, he nodded. There was no room for hesitation, or even a second thought. He just, nodded.

"You naïve, little boy," she whispered. From the depths of her sweater, she pulled out a flower. It hovered mildly over the palm of her hand. She set it down nearby, letting it float just a few centimeters above the tips of grass.

The girl then made her way to one of the traps, skidding persistently to and fro. She bent her knees down to the soft ground, feeling the firm braid grass with her hand. With steady movement, she lifted the trap. One centimeter at a time, as if it weren't moving at all. Slowly, an opening was lifted by the girl. At the blink of an eye, a rabbit dashed from the visible exit. Only to have it snatched by Wendy.

She grabbed the animal by one of its arms, and held it with a tight grip. She was hurting the animal, supported by the frustrated noises or apparent wail that it let out. She then grabbed the animal around its lower belly. Easier wrapping around her hand around its entire waist. It squeaked and trembled for a moment, doing its best to kick around its legs to escape.

But Wendy held on to the rabbit, lifting herself back to a standing position. Webber simply watched in awe as the girl made her way towards the silky flower.

She was standing over it, lightly caressing the rabbit with her free hand. Waiting for it to stop trembling, to stop panicking. She hushed it softly, pressing her fingers over the fur with the faintest touch. After a few rounds of being petted, the rabbit laid still. Motionless within her grasp.

Wendy then gazed at the boy, a fleeting speck of content written on her face. And then she whispered.

"Don't be scared."

Without any reluctance, she twisted the rabbit's neck with one hand. While the other hand gripped its lower abdomen tightly, allowing its neck to twist with ease. There was a high-pitched squeal that came from the animal, but it was only present for a moment. The scream didn't even last a second.

Webber was shook from the sudden violence, or rather he was shook from the shrilled cry. But something peculiar began to happen, something that was generated almost immediately after the rabbit's death.

The flower began to glow tremendously, its light radiating furiously from its lush petals. It raised from the ground, deftly colliding with the wind as its petals moved aimlessly around. Webber found himself staring at the strange spectacle, with pulsating eyes. He couldn't turn his gaze away.

The wind started to howl, and the flower was now several feet off the ground. Suddenly, its light had increased to that of a luminous star. Blinding the two kids who watched the thing with both glee and terror.

The blinding light forced the spider child to cover his multiple eyes with his arms, as each and every one of them flinched from the chilling brightness.

Finally, a gust of blew from the epicenter of the flower. Dissolving its bright appearance instantaneously.

Webber peeked through the slits of his eyelids, desperate to catch a glimpse of what was happening. His sight was blurry, but he could hear strange whisperings arise. What was being said was incoherent to the boy. But he could hear them increase in volume as his eyes began to readjust.

The boy stepped back a little, what felt like no distance at all. There was a discreet sense of anxiety knocking at the front door of his mind. Ignoring the qualms of negativity, Webber forced his eyes open. Anxious to destroy the unnecessary tension off the fear of the unknown.

Doing so allowed the boy to catch a glimpse of a pale figure. It was hovering right where the flower used to be.

Convinced that he was seeing things, Webber rubbed his eyes with his fingers. Fully confident that whatever was in front of him would normalize to a more suitable appearance.

When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted with a ghostly being. Webber stood dumbstruck, completely unable to process what was in front of him.

A pale, glowing being was hovering close to the boy. It was a ghastly figure that held no physical appearance, except for a strangely placed flower at the top of its opposed head. It laminated a faint glow of light across its whole body. The edges of its body wavered back and forth like if they were flames.

And the being stared at the spider boy. Its eyes burning into him, even without the presence of pupils.

Suddenly, the whisperings turned into incoherent shouts as the being rushed at him. Its pale body shifting to a red hue.

Webber flinched back from the ghastly being, stumbling on his own feet. He fell on the ground, too mortified to act out in defense.

"Abigail! Stop." Wendy shouted.

The cadaverous figure pulled to a dead stop, a mere few inches from the freighted boy. It turned around to face Wendy, its fierceness disappearing just as fast as it surfaced.

"I'm rather disappointed in you Abigail, death has changed you."

The girl paced her way to Webber, "This is my friend." She offered her hand to the spasmodic boy. "Please be kind to him."

…

Within the viscerous refugee of a meager campsite stood a scientist. Carefully dissecting a specimen hunted down not too long ago. Wilson used a thin, carved out piece of flint to slice through the slightest layer of skin and fat. Exposing the inner parts of the specimen's organs, tissues and bodily fluids.

A process in which the scientist was naturally accustomed to, never jarring away from the grotesque sight. He would split apart ligaments and fat to delve down deep into the central body organs. Taking careful mental notes of size and locations to the parts. The anatomy of these creatures fascinated the man. At least, they usually do.

For Maxwell, the lanky magician, faced away from the man as if to avert his eyes from the necropsy. Fully engaged on his book he felt so fond of. At least, that was what Wilson had assumed. However, he wasn't be quite sure.

Maxwell was uncomfortable quiet on the way back to the campsite. The man didn't even blurt out a smug remark.

To the very least, Wilson was concerned. Not that he really cared for the petty man, but he would have to put up with him for at least another week. Therefore, the scientist decided to engage in conversation.

"Maxwell," he let out a cough before continuing. "Today was a rather productive day, we should encounter very little trouble if we continue with our plans." He stated, as if Maxwell hadn't already known this.

"That is," he chuckled, "if you continue to be useful in the battlefield." Wilson looked at the man with a grin, hoping to get a response of sorts. But he didn't budge.

Wilson continued to stare at the man, tapping his foot as he waited. The lack of speech created a strand of awkward silence. Wilson, now feeling a bit tense, tried once more.

"Well, of course. There's always the factor of the coming frost, nature can be an unforgiving temptress." He muttered.

This time, Maxwell let out a heavy grown of annoyance before speaking to the scientist. "Please, are you down with your miserable attempts for small talk." He emphasized the last words.

Wilson flushed up with timid fury at his retort. "What is wrong with you? I'm simply trying to lighten the mood."

"Lighten the mood," he scoffed. "You make it seem as though some tragedy has occurred."

The scientist laughed out of spite. "You know, there's always something fishy going on with you. You know that. I always feel the need to distrust you whenever it seems that you might be doing something nice."

"Nice!" he almost shouted. "Now that's a rouse, when has there ever been an event where I have come across as pleasant to your eyes."

"That's the point, you never have. Not through your actions, I wonder if you ever gave anyone but yourself a second thought. But the way you talk, your charismatic form of communicating. It's so, manipulative." He let out a sigh. "This is why it is hard to work with you."

"Why stop there Wilson," Maxwell egged on, "what else do you hate about me?"

"Hate," he repeated, "I'll leave that for another day. First, what the hell happened to you?" He fumed.

"What are you blabbering about?" Maxwell retorted.

"What's gotten you in such a pissy mood?"

"What is this nonsense? I'm the same as ever." He answered back.

"Are you kidding me, I usually can't get you to shut up." Wilson pinched the top of his nose with his fingers. "Look, I know…hunting can be a bit gruesome."

"Is that what this is about, you think the whole spider situation." He paused for a bit. "Made me the least bit uncomfortable," he faltered.

"I know it did," Wilson said with confidence. "And that's okay, some people really struggle with natural violence and-"

"Please," Maxwell interrupted, "I created everything you see here. You think I haven't seen worse. I've witnessed countless souls ripped to shreds by the most savage creatures. Why would you ever think something so petty would bother me?"

Wilson stood quiet. He didn't really know what to say to that. But for whatever reason, he just felt sorry for the man.

Maxwell, noticing Wilson's solemn silence, took less heed of the man and continued to center his attention to his book.

Wilson peered down to his feet, accepting his defeat to articulate a decent conversation with the magician. He noticed his hands, soaked deeply in spider blood. A heavy dark, blue color that seeped into his pores. Almost black in coloration.

"You know Maxwell," he began, "I hope that one day, you can ditch the masquerade of repressing your feelings. It's a depressing world relying on no one but yourself. I don't blame you, I tried to take on the world the same way you did." He laughed a bit. "But it got me nowhere."

Wilson looked up at the sky, and then reached into the carcass of an arachnid. Pulling out a gland that harbored healing prowess.

"Hey, I'm helping us bring everyone together. Aren't I," Maxwell urged.

Wilson held the gland in his hands, "Sure you are."

 **Author's Note: There is no easy way to say this. This fanfic is close to being dropped. It's not because of lack of motivation or creativity. It's a struggle with priorities. So, what does that mean? It means I'm going to dedicate Wednesday and Friday to working on this fic. Whether it be for an hour or even less, I want to have a realistic schedule. I want to finish this, but I don't know if it'll happen now.**


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